Table,cartridge,phono...where to put most of my money?

I’m not seeing there is a immediate need for a Vinyl Front End to be purchased, with what looks to be a history of experiences that were not wanting to be maintained. It seems there is a further amount of experiences that can be gathered to help with homing in on the sonic that becomes attractive and wanting to be experienced in the home system.

Time spent seeking out opportunities to experience Vinyl Replays, either from a commercial entity, forum request or HiFi Club can put in ones path a range of opportunities.

I have been introduced to Vinyl Set Up’s on home systems costing between £1000 - £20000 that have been able to create a very good impression, through to extremely attractive. It is not necessarily the most expensive that delivers, it is the experiences obtained by the user and how they have built a system to suit their unique tastes that is the Cornerstone of experience being encountered.

@OP - what is the digital front end in the system that the analogue setup will be compared to?

For what it is worth, I asked the owner/CEO of a prominent German turntable manufacturer which item in a turntable setup  has the biggest impact on sound quality:  "The Cartridge".  So with this, I would spend at least half on the cartridge and the rest spread amongst the other gear.  I would think second most important would be the phono pre-amp as its analog output produces what we eventually hear.

There are so many options for a great sounding vinyl setup under $5k. By example my secondary vinyl setup consists of a Pioneer DX1000 TT at about $800, Sumiko Starling $2k MC cart and $500 Puffin phono preamp. It can sound pretty close to my primary system of VPI Classic 1 TT with Lyra Kleos cart and PS Audio Stellar phono preamp at 3 times the cost. It's all about the combo, not necessarily the money in my experience.