1. Cartridge, but you need to have it well matched to a proper tonearm that won’t cripple its performance. Or else you goofed. But always start at the transducer since they impart the most coloration and your sonic preferences here will be very personal.
2. Phono stage, which needs to be electrically and sonically matched for your chosen cartridge. Includes the SUT if you go that route for MC step-up. Some people can tolerate more or less noise here which will factor into your decision. Choose poorly here, and you’ve also goofed.
3. Turntable needs to be good enough to not destroy the performance capabilities of the above items. This includes necessary isolation from your floor, speakers, other energy sources, etc. Choose poorly here, and you’ve also goofed.
Mainly remember your’re trying to put together a complimentary system of well-matched components. E.g. you can’t go "all in" on a Koetsu cartridge and stick it on a Project Debut. That’s why when it’s time to upgrade, you may find yourself buying all new things, which is why it’s such a money pit :)
Anyways, the way most people buy into their first vinyl system won’t be so orderly. Many will go for the bundle packs, like Project or Rega, with varying degrees of success - though at least the components will be reasonably complimentary, and you just need to choose phono. But if you want to do this "right", you’ll have to spend more than you first think. I started 13 years ago when I fell in love with a consignment SOTA Star III in fiery Koa wood, and just had to have it. It came with a Fidelity Research arm (great arm) and fortunately I didn’t cheap out too bad on the cartridge - got a new Benz Micro Glider (perhaps a slight mismatch to the arm, but not too bad) and a Dynavector P75 phono stage (I could've done a bit better here, but not without spending more). It cost $3.4K all-in, and the setup sounded so good I became a vinyl junkie for life. When I had started looking, I was hoping to keep it down to low-$1K max. Whoops - but I’m so glad I invested much more.
2. Phono stage, which needs to be electrically and sonically matched for your chosen cartridge. Includes the SUT if you go that route for MC step-up. Some people can tolerate more or less noise here which will factor into your decision. Choose poorly here, and you’ve also goofed.
3. Turntable needs to be good enough to not destroy the performance capabilities of the above items. This includes necessary isolation from your floor, speakers, other energy sources, etc. Choose poorly here, and you’ve also goofed.
Mainly remember your’re trying to put together a complimentary system of well-matched components. E.g. you can’t go "all in" on a Koetsu cartridge and stick it on a Project Debut. That’s why when it’s time to upgrade, you may find yourself buying all new things, which is why it’s such a money pit :)
Anyways, the way most people buy into their first vinyl system won’t be so orderly. Many will go for the bundle packs, like Project or Rega, with varying degrees of success - though at least the components will be reasonably complimentary, and you just need to choose phono. But if you want to do this "right", you’ll have to spend more than you first think. I started 13 years ago when I fell in love with a consignment SOTA Star III in fiery Koa wood, and just had to have it. It came with a Fidelity Research arm (great arm) and fortunately I didn’t cheap out too bad on the cartridge - got a new Benz Micro Glider (perhaps a slight mismatch to the arm, but not too bad) and a Dynavector P75 phono stage (I could've done a bit better here, but not without spending more). It cost $3.4K all-in, and the setup sounded so good I became a vinyl junkie for life. When I had started looking, I was hoping to keep it down to low-$1K max. Whoops - but I’m so glad I invested much more.