"if there is surface noise when playing back vinyl (even after thorough cleaning) isn’t upgrading the table a nearly useless endeavor beyond a certain point since the noise floor improvement from a better table will never be realized? Am I being accurate in my assessment?"
To the OP:
No, I do not think you're being accurate in your assessment.
I've owned the same turntable for 35 years, a Michell Gyrodec. In recent years I've made non OEM changes to both the main bearing and the suspension which have resulted in fairly significant decreases in surface noise.
Obviously, it's very difficult to quantify whether those reductions in noise were less or more than those achieved with changes to cartridge, phono preamp, optimizing cartridge/tonearm matching, optimizing the cartridge/phono preamp interface etc. all of which can result in fairly serious reductions in surface noise (along with clean records of course).
For what it's worth, the Ortofon 2M Black does seem to have a bit of a reputation for accentuating surface noise and also being demanding of setup. So setup alone may ameliorate some of your issues with noise.
That being said, the 2M Black does have a pretty good reputation. If it's in good condition it would be the last thing I would change. I think your funds would be best served improving the table (and arm with a view to optimizing with the 2M Black and possible future cartridges) and possibly your phono preamp, which I don't recall being mentioned in this thread-perhaps I've missed it.
You should reap significant improvements/gains with a table/arm upgrade and not just in the surface noise department. The phono stage may need attention too. Unfortunately, analog is the sum of its parts-all of them are important.
To the OP:
No, I do not think you're being accurate in your assessment.
I've owned the same turntable for 35 years, a Michell Gyrodec. In recent years I've made non OEM changes to both the main bearing and the suspension which have resulted in fairly significant decreases in surface noise.
Obviously, it's very difficult to quantify whether those reductions in noise were less or more than those achieved with changes to cartridge, phono preamp, optimizing cartridge/tonearm matching, optimizing the cartridge/phono preamp interface etc. all of which can result in fairly serious reductions in surface noise (along with clean records of course).
For what it's worth, the Ortofon 2M Black does seem to have a bit of a reputation for accentuating surface noise and also being demanding of setup. So setup alone may ameliorate some of your issues with noise.
That being said, the 2M Black does have a pretty good reputation. If it's in good condition it would be the last thing I would change. I think your funds would be best served improving the table (and arm with a view to optimizing with the 2M Black and possible future cartridges) and possibly your phono preamp, which I don't recall being mentioned in this thread-perhaps I've missed it.
You should reap significant improvements/gains with a table/arm upgrade and not just in the surface noise department. The phono stage may need attention too. Unfortunately, analog is the sum of its parts-all of them are important.