Relative Spending on Turntables and Cartridges


It seems conventional, at least at the low to mid-range of equipment, to spend much more for a turntable than for the cartridge. I'm wondering about the logic behind that. It seems to me that, once you've spent enough for a well-made turntable that with a good motor, sufficient weight and torque, and a solid tonearm that a cartridge upgrade is, relatively speaking, more valuable than a turntable upgrade. For example, I have a Rega P3 that typically comes with (in the package version) and Elys II cartridge. On mine, I know use a Rega Ania cartridge, which, as upgraded by SoundSmith, costs a bit more than the turntable. But the audible return on that investment has been enormous. I also have a Pioneer PLX-1000, which I initially used with a Sumiko Pearl cartridge. I've since upgraded, first, to a Hana EL, and subsequently to an Ortofon Quintet Bronze. Each upgrade improved sound quality (frequency response, transparency, detail, sound stage, etc.) dramatically. Perhaps I'm not getting everything out of the Bronze or the Ania that I would hear if I used them on higher-level turntables. But in terms of bang-for-the-buck, I've reached the conclusion that it is smarter to budget 50% each for cartridge and turntable than the prevailing norm of 75% for the turntable and only 25% for the cartridge (at least once your total budget reaches around $1000. Your thoughts?
dancole
My thoughts:
It’s a matter of where diminishing returns cut in most steeply, and what your budget is.
For a $5-10k setup, diminishing returns for turntables seem to be about $4k, and $1500 for cartridges.
For an under $2k setup, the figures seem more like $1200/800.
For the real pricey stuff, I don’t know.
Phono preamp prices are all over the map. I only have experience up to $3k, so you’re on your own for that. My ratios are $4k, $1.5k, $3k for table, cartridge, phono pre for 2 different systems.
I recently installed a lightly used Lyra Helikon MC cartridge (rebuilt by Lyra in 2016) on an old Planar 3 (early 2000s) that has some modifications. The sound quality was spectacular. Placing the turntable on EVP footers was an additional improvement.
FWIW , last night I was finally cleaning out my audio closet .
WAY in corner down below I found a Shure M91ED new in box I did not even know i had . Slapped it on a low mass arm of a direct drive .(I’m good at alignment ) and dam near fell of my chair as it sounded every bit as good as the 1200 $ number on my Rega P6 and tracked better !

My mind shifted back to the Glory Days of the 60’s which I wasn’t thinking of because I did not want to recall what Companies like Empire, ADC , Stanton, Shure, and many others were making .The box on my Shure still had the price on it . 21$ .