Turntable versus tonearm versus cartridge: which is MOST important?

This one is easy. The $500 cartridge on the better turntable. It is easy to make an expensive cartridge sound terrible, much worse than a $500 cartridge working at it's best.

It is also easier and usually much less expensive to upgrade cartridges down the line than turntables. Even the best cartridges will wear out. The best turntables will not.

sandthemall, if sense had anything to do with this none of us would be here.

He obviously does not do much work with subwoofers. 

I think we have safely established that the turntable/tonearm are more important than the cartridge for starters, a rare moment of almost total agreement. 

@chakster, @rauliruegas, It appears the two of you are in agreement with each other. Together you probably have more cartridges than the rest of us combined. So I guess we will leave it at that. The two of you are on to something and the rest of us are hallucinatory. Gin and Tonic anyone?  

@fsonicsmith , could not have said it better. 1+

The question should be, "how do you go about building a great turntable?"  That fact is you have to evaluate each item, drive, tonearm and cartridge individually then determine if they function together. Obviously you have to stay within your budget. The order is Turntable then tonearm then cartridge. It is no good to pick a tonearm that will not fit on a turntable you can afford. The turntable is generally the most expensive part of the deal so you start there then pick a tonearm that will fit and finally pick a cartridge that is matched to that arm. Since the cartridge is last if you have to skimp this is were you do it. Cartridges are also wear items. If you can't handle this then you can buy a stand alone unit like a Thorens, Rega, Project, Music Hall and so forth. 

1+ larryi. I look at the market and If I had unlimited resources the most expensive turntable set up I would buy currently would cost a total of $80,000. Would it sound and better than the one I just payed $18,000 for? My guess is marginally. Most people would not be able to hear the difference. All those megabuck turntables in the end are going to make nice paperweights. They won't resell at even 1/3 their retail price. 
Anybody know if TechDAS sold all of the 50 Air Force Zero's they planned on making?

@chakster , you like cocobolo? Check out the record clamp I just made on my system page. The finger lift is also cocobolo.

Atomic60, I could have used ebony. If you look at the top of the record clamp you will see an ebony plug in the very center. There is a cavity in the clamp filled with lead shot. The ebony closes the entry. The problem with using ebony in the finger lift application is that it is very brittle. Turning it down to that diameter would be very stressful. It would probably that me 10 trials before I could get one off in one piece. I know this for a fact as I turned a set of pick-up sticks for my children out of 20 different varieties of wood. I put a picture of it for you on my system page. This is how you teach yourself to have a light touch on the lathe. Cocobolo and ebony have almost the same density. Both are almost as heavy as water. Cocobolo is a lot oilier and more flexible.

@chakster , no problem. Just send me dimensions, a picture or two and the type of wood you want. Shop time is $50/hour. Then there are materials and shipping. I doubt it would take more than an hour. The cost of wood can vary drastically. Shipping to Russia? No idea. I doubt customs will bother with a wood sample:-)

@rauliruegas , If we had common sense we wouldn't be here:-) Raul! you don't like unipivots either!! See, I told you guys I was not alone. Up and down, side to side, that is it. Nothing else. This is why the best makers of unipivots, Graham and Basis turned them into something else.

@lohanimal , "use a trough for your tonearm." Could please elaborate. Are you talking about a damping trough with a paddle and oil? 
Could you show us a picture. 

I like that, " lazy engineering solution." I've always called it the "cheap" solution. That certainly makes three of us. "Oh, but you need to listen before you roast!" Not me. Shoot first and ask questions later. 

Thanx lohanimal, I have read several on the subject. It can be a great way to handle resonances that can not be handled otherwise.

Dynamic_driven, because that is a different subject. Cartridges and phono stages to have to match within boundaries. Among a group of excellent phono stages it will most likely be the cartridges that make the largest difference. The job of the cartridge is much more difficult to perform well and the way it interacts with the tonearm is perhaps the most critical match in audio. You can jamb any phono stage into any system if you are so inclined. 

@atmasphere  Ralph, that was very incisive.

4krowme, wrong analogy. The car is the turntable and the cartridge is the motor. Regardless of what kind of race you are in, more power is ALWAYS better but you can put too much power in a vehicle that can not handle it safely. Looked at it this way there is a philosophical similarity.

Ralph, look at it this way, your bike is the turntable and your legs are the cartridge. You know darn well what happens when they fail:-)

@terry9 , you really don't want to ask raul that question. The answer will get pornographic fast.

@atmasphere , how come I always have to take the heat for dissing unipivot tonearms? 

Have you checked out my thread on dust cover blues? I would appreciate if you would contribute. Forget about the dust cover thing. What do you think is going on?

@pindac , with the concentricity spec on records at +- 2 mm I would not worry about turntable runout. I think as long as rumble is low and speed accuracy is high you are in business. I certainly agree that per precision is always welcome and the way all three items interface is very important. The toughest part is isolating it from the rest of the world.