Phono Stage, Cartridge, DeGritter...which one first?

Depending on your lp collection, for me the best is to go with a better table, arm, phono stage, cartridge and then worry about a fancy cleaning machine. Cleaning formula like the Walker prelude and a basic cleaning machine will be more than enough.

G

Record cleaning does not have to be that expensive, especially for ultra sonic. Buy a tank off ebay, and spend a bit more for one with separate power supplies for heaters and ultrasonic devices. The tank is essentially disposable, as you spend about $200 for one. Get a Vinyl Stack spinner with the 4 record option. That's about $350 or so. Now the question becomes how to dry the records. Many folks have good results with air drying, and when it comes out of the US that only takes about 15 minutes. Or you can buy something like a Record Doctor V or Nitty Gritty where the wet side of the record faces down and you can vacuum off the excess fluid and put it right in a sleeve. If you do the Record Doctor you are into the system about $800 to $900 for all new pieces. I found a used record Doctor V and paid $180 for whats basically a new looking machine. The results from this basic set up are excellent, I just did some Ella Fitzgerald from the 60's on Verve label and the results were better than what I got on a VPI 16.5 with Audio Intelligent chemicals. 

Damn, I was just gonna buy an isonic but mc talked me out of it. I think I’ll get a Benz micro Lps now. 

$200 all in for motorized ultrasonic.  Distilled water with 30 drops of surfactant does 100% better than any brush/vac method I've ever used.
I'm done scrubbing records. Just US clean before first play used or new.

I’ve been cleaning my records in the sink now since 2007. That’s when I quit using an US. Lots of really bad, piss poor advice! ^^^

Unless you have more $$/€€/££/¥¥ than brains. Many in here do.

Keep your P6. Upgrade your cartridge. That’ll get you the most from what you have. Then to match your cartridge (later), upgrade your phono preamp. Again, that’ll maximize your setup; you’ll be at the limits of your table. Then, upgrade your table.

See how this REALLY works?

Sorry to burst many bubbles, but you’ll hear an improvement upgrading your cart first, then preamp, then lastly your table. You have to push to find the limits of what you have; you start with your cartridge. The other components will then rise to the level you set with your cartridge.

Expertly cleaning records (pristinely clean!) needn’t require more than $20 of materials. In the last 10 years I’ve set up 8 record reseller businesses on how to expertly and cheaply/quickly clean records. They’re all still in business and doing well. If you’re spending more than 5 minutes per record to clean and dry them, to absolute cleanliness, you’re doing it wrong.