importance of phono cartridge

DEAR FRIENDS: What is more important in a car? : the engine?, the battery?, the wheels?, the keys? , gasoline?, engine oil?, etc.....

All these car items are important for a good car performance, with out any of them the car does not works.

All those car items are necessary but the engine is truly the " heart " of any car.

In the audio analog stage the TT, phono cartridge, phonopreamp, tonearm, cables, set-up, etc.. are really important.
But for example: with out cables there will be no sound. This means that the cables are the most important analog audio item?. Of course not.

My point is that the " heart " of the audio analog stage is where its generate the signal: phono cartridge ( the source ).
Yes, if we have a better TT we could have a better sound reproduction, but this statement is true either for the cables or for the cartridge it self and this is not the point.
Now, I agree with Marakanetz that cartridge has to be well matched with a tonearm: critical subject.

But there is other analog item that is extreme critical for the quality sound reproduction and that is at the same importance level than the cartridge, this is the: phonopreamp.
This phonopreamp has, at least, three critical targets: first, mimic ( exactly ) the RIAA eq., as a fact an inverse one. Any small deviation from the RIAA eq. do a degradation to the signal that comes from the cartrdige.
Second, must have enough " gain " to put the low level cartridge signal at an " amplifier level " for the reproduction.
Third: that " gain " has to be with out noise.

All of us know that the quality sound reproduction in our system depends of the weak link in the audio chain.
With the phonopreamp that subject is truly a critical issue.

How can we know ( like Tim told us ) how good is our analog rig ( cartridge/tonearm/TT ) if our phonopreamp does not have the desired resolution? how can we know what's wrong with our cartridge/tonearm combo or with our TT if the phonopreamp is far from its targets?
The phonopreamp is not only an " audio analog item ", it is, too, a tool that help us to reach a better quality sound reproduction and to make changes for those " looking for improvements " issues.

For example: how can Doug really appreciate all the cartridge " glory " with a phonopreamp that ( like he say ) it is not at the same level quality that his analog rig?.

Doug, btw I can build one for you. Interested?

So: cartridge and phonopreamp.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Raul,

I'm curious about your thoughts on the original question. Which do you think would sound better:

a) a $5K cartridge on a $1,600 rig (TT + arm) or,
b) a $5K rig with a $1,600 cartridge?

If these were your only choices, which would you choose and why?

P.S. Thanks for the phono stage ideas. You'll recall I said we've demoed several that outperform ours. They just don't outperform by as much as a TT, arm or cartridge upgrade.

I have a very good idea how much more phono stage performance is available, and it isn't as much as we got from upgrading those other components. That's why we did them first of course. Our new custom power amp was also a bigger sonic improvement than a new phono or line stage. Once step at a time, and one might as well get the most for one's money at each step.

Thanks also for the offer to build us one. I'd enjoy hearing it of course, but I assume it doesn't use tubes, right? To date, no solid state device of any kind that we've heard has been satisfying to our ears and tastes. You are especially bothered by frequency response variations. We are especially bothered by the damage transistors do to smooth waveforms. YMMV as they say.

Raul says cartridge and phonopreamp

DING!!
The bells sounds the begining of round 2...................

Well another factor to consider is the quality of turntable setup.I noticed that when everything is set up just exactly correct with my Wally Tracker alignment mirror the sound just improves so so much on the front end.But with that said the largest and biggest sound improvement in my system is when I upgraded my cartridge from a Grado Silver phono Cartridge $150.00 list to a Grado Ref. Cartridge $1,200.00 list.I also upgraded from my standard tonearm cable that came with my Morch Arm too the Kimber Kable Silver AG Tonearm Cable and did notice improvement but not to the degree of the cartridge upgrade.
My table is a VPI MK3 with Morch UP-4 Arm with internal silver wire installed.I'm very happy within this price range of the results I obtained,But I did hear a Goldmund Reference Table many years ago and this table was something to die for .The sound quality was so realistic in sonic presentattion that it was simply breathtaking.So maybe a Table is where the buck stops,But I'm happy with the results I've obtained in my setup,and if my ears like what I
hear then that is what matters the most to me IMO.

reading this thread makes me believe that the STAND is the most important part of analog playback! Surely if everything said here regarding the turntable as being the platform that supports the arm/cart to do their job, then the stand must be even MORE crucial...