Relative Spending on Turntables and Cartridges

Prices means nothing, depends what you're buying. 
Once you got a nice turntable you can spend more on cartridges if you want (or can't stop). Turntable drive, plinth and tonearms normally cost more than a nice cartridge. But if you want to try a $3k cartridge on $2k turntable - why not (if you can afford it) ? Do you need an approval from somebody else ?   

IMO it depends how good the tonearm is. I own a Rega P9 RB1000 which the tonearm makes the P9 a standout mid-price table, I currently have a Goldring Legacy with about 400hrs on it. Started with an AT OC 9 MK2 which probably gave me over 1000 hours until the cantilever snapped after a light stylus cleaning The Goldring is a solid improvement over the AT especially with bass and overall clarity(calmness). A Koetsu Black or Rosewood would be my last upgrade on the P9 which would get everything out of the RB1000 tonearm.

Of course, it always depends on what you are buying for the money, but for most of us it is simply not true that "price means nothing." Also, I'm not looking for approval. I'm just wondering why the convention is to spend only 70% of a budget on a table and only 30% on a cartridge.  At least in my budget range ($1000 to $3000), the convention seems questionable. I am not saying is that the quality of the turntable doesn't matter or that the cartridge is more important than the table. But if you've got a budget of, say $1200, then you might be better off (in terms of your audio experience) spending $600 to $700 on the table and $500 to $600 on the cartridge than $1000 on the table and $200 on the cartridge (depending, of course, on table and cartridge you are getting for that money).

@dancole,

You bring up good points. Not sure where the ratio on expenditures for audio equipment originated from. Perhaps, golden ear reviewers of yore.

When I was a young, and dapper, aspiring audio geek in my teens, I tended to be focused on technical specs based on readings from stereo review magazine at the time. Those readings and my curiosity provided me with the impetus to explore turntables and cartridges based on specs. In those days, late 70’s, early 80’s, my Audioquest4life journey began. 
I state this because I was young and exploring the audio gadget field on my own terms, no Internet, a few audio dealers within proximity and through discovery learning, I figured out that the combination of the system had to play music and I had to I enjoy it. Costs associated for each component was not even a factor because I did not think it was relevant or not even thought about it....I just needed to get what I could get within my means, and obviously, my budget. And yes, I did splurge on Shure cartridges, Pickering, ADC, and such to pair with my Pioneer, Radio Shack, Denon turntables which I thought at the time, were just a platform to install these magnificent cartridges on at the time for me to hear the music. So, I can see how you can question this rationale. 

Remember, I was a spec guy back then, mostly still today, and thought that really good channel separation and wide frequency response was all that I needed for me to enjoy music on my turntables. I still look at specs but with a wider view of my interpretation of synergy of system. I say go for it because invariably, your the only one, besides, friends and family who will get the pleasure of hearing the synergy that you develop. Sure, a general consensus can be extracted from forums about equipment combinations, and it’s helpful, to a degree. Each of us have our own listening environments and ears and that separates us from the masses. Disagreement is quite alright in this hobby as I don’t see many absolutes, except for those darn specs. Enjoy.