Honest question about cartridge vs. turntable performance.

"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. 

I took the air out of my own analogy.  The last sentence: "The cartridge and the tonearm are doing two entirely different things" should have read, "The cartridge and the TURNTABLE are doing two entirely different things", one in the signal voltage domain and the other in the time domain.

Atma-Sphere, I will never ride a bike with anything but Campy on it. That Jap stuff is cheap overweight crap. It only worked better if you did not know how to shift.
My current bike is a Specialized S works Diverge with Campy Super Record 12 speed EPS disc brake group. Fulcrum Carbon tubeless rims with Hutchinson Sector 32 tires. Perfect bike for an old fart with bad wrists:)

@mijostyn

Back in the 70s Campy was heavier, shifted slower and less precisely than the alloy SunTour stuff.

I got rid of derailleurs years ago- I have a custom Reynolds 953 and a Ti frame both equipped with Rohloff hubs. The Ti frame is a Jones and despite no suspension, is the most comfortable bike I've ridden.

You can always count on @millercarbon for a cryptic, meaningless statement with no real information.
Got to keep the post count up.

Calculate how much your phono stage, head amp stage, arm, table, isolasters, and cartridge, etc. cost.  When you spend that on a CD player, your opinion matters.  For a good comparison, check our Sheffield's D to D LP's and the CD's of the recording sessionsthat followed years later. I have Thelma Houston, Pressure Cooker.  I am not a fan of the music, but the comparison is worth the price of admission.