Do you spend more on your cartridge or tone arm?

Is there a rule of thumb on the dollar ratio between the cost of your tonearm and amount spent on your cartridge? Assume a $5000+ turntable.

markalarsen03-15-2025 6:51pm

inna Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 7,806 posts 03-15-2025 at 11:58pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Yes, it is complicated. And you didn't mention phono stage. Very generally, for $5k table I would consider $2k-$2.5k tonearm. As for the cartridge, assuming new and full retail, I would definitely stay below $2k.
inna Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 7,806 posts 03-16-2025 at 02:14am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete dwette, I don't disagree with you, but I would do it, say, more conservative way. And in any case, phono stage must be real good for $4k cartridge, even for $2k cartridge for that matter. In my view, generally speaking, two/three times more expensive than cartridge.
inna Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 7,806 posts 03-16-2025 at 07:01pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete dwette, if one could experiment freely, surprises of a sort may happen, but one would have to try a lot of arm/cartridge/phono stage combinations. $15k cartridge might sound just excellent in $1k arm but it's not the point, the point is to bring out everything this cartridge is capable of and you won't be able to do it with $1k tonearm and probably with $5k tonearm either.