I had always been a fan of the Source being the highest quality (not necessarily the most expensive), Speakers next, and amplification, etc. I always fussed over the turntable, arm and cartridge. However, lessons learned from 45 years in this hobby continue to show me that every link is important and can have profound impact on the sound. This also includes the room and especially the placement of the equipment. My latest upgrade after years of receivers, i went with Pass preamp and amp separates and it was a major upgrade in sound. THat being said, i use a Maplenoll Apollo table with ZYX Universe II cartridge. The Apollo was near 10k back in the 90's and the cartridge is close to 6K. My speakers currently are Audiophysic Caledera II which were 15-20K in the late 90's. I am using Pass xp10 and XA30.8 which combined are about 10-12k new. so i am close to 1/3 on each main section on a new basis. I however buy used (except the Pass products and the cartridges) so my actual costs for speakers and table were much lower than MSRP.