Is tonearm cable the most important cable in the system ?

@inna - I have experimented extensively with cables/connectors over the past 11 years,

One of my first endeavors was replacing the tonearm wire in my RB250 tonearm with a one piece Cardas harness. The resulting  improvements were easy to hear over the stock Rega offering

I then replaced the RCA’s with a pair of Silver Bullet RCA’s. Again, the improvements were very noticeable.

I now have a silver litz one piece harness terminated with KLE Innovations Absolute Harmony RCA’s - the details conveyed are exceptional.

I believe a quality tonearm wire and RCA’s to be essential to phono reproduction. It also allows you to hear improvements in other cables and components throughout the system as they are introduced.

If you think about it - if the tonearm wire is your weakest link (i.e. not conveying the highest resolution signal possible), then trying to discern improvements in the rest of the system by introducing cables or components becomes folly, simply because you will never really know what the other cables and components are truly capable of since they are not receiving the best signal possible.

Granted, the cartridge plays a significant role here - but again, unless the tonearm wire is top notch, you will not know how good a cartridge performs either.

If your tonearm/turntable is terminated with RCA jacks, i.e. requiring an interconnect to attach to the phono stage and if installing a one piece harness is not an affordable option, then having a good IC to connect to the TT to the phono stage will prove most beneficial.

In this case, take a look at the KLE Innovations IC products. I have auditioned/reviewed most of their IC line over a four year period and believe they are among the best commercial products available.
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The gZero3 is exceptional for an introductory cable, but I regard the gZero20 to be the best "value". The top end of their lineup take you into the territory of diminishing returns, but does offer exemplary sound quality. 

If you are reasonably handy at DIY - take a look at some IC’s I have developed - which I use throughout my system. They allow the natural and dynamic transfer of an extremely high resolution signal with little distortion or coloration (if any), regardless of signal strength.
http://image99.net/blog/files/4127b5fe2694586e383104364360373b-74.html

Hope that helps

Regards - Steve

"Often the closer to the source the more important. I am not talking about power cords now." @inna 

EVERY cable is a power cable. What do you imagine is traveling through your speaker wire right now? Every cable you have conducts the flow of electrons (or photons in some xD). There's nothing magical here. 

williewonka, I don't think I will have this Nottingham arm modified. One reason - I might upgrade it to the newest Nott arm in the next couple of years, and another - I cannot be certain that it will actually sound better. I could just upgrade the RCA connectors, I guess.
So far, every interconnect upgrade from the Acoustech phono to Redgum RGi120 integrated yields big improvements, and I didn't start with junk, I started with old Purist Maximus. I guess, Nottingham wiring is quite good. So is $500 Goldring 1042 MM cartridge. I am impressed by both.

@inna - re....

I could just upgrade the RCA connectors, I guess.

I would highly recommend updating the RCa’s - after all, if you really like them you can always transfer them to the next arm. They are extremely easy to install and remove.

My RCA journey
- I initially replaced the RCA’s on my turntable with renown Silver Bullet RCA’s
- I was so impressed, I immediately replaced the RCA's on all of my IC’s
- Wrote a review of the Silver Bullet on my blog - which was read by Keith Louie Eichmann (KLE) of Silver Bullet "fame"
- KLE ask me to review his new RCA’s - the Harmony product line
- the improvements between the Silver Bullet and the Copper Harmony were easily discernible and also between each successive Harmony model

I now recommend the Silver Harmony as a more affordable starting point and the Absolute Harmony for the more "enthusiastic" audiophiles. Both are extremely good compared to the other competition out there. 

In my opinion, the Copper Harmony lacks the fine details and dynamic perofrmance of the Silver harmony and if you are considering the Pure harmony, you may as well spend the extra couple of bucks on the Absolute Harmony and get the best.

My system is what I consider "modestly priced" (around $11,000 MSRP including cables), but due solely to the cables, RCA’s and other connectors, it performs well above it’s price point.

The image is expansive, three dimensional and has a clarity most other systems costing much more seem to lack.

I’m not trying to sell anything here - I’m just spreading the word about a product that actually works.

OK - I’m done with the preaching.

Happy listening :-)

Regards - Steve