If we are talking about ultimate audio,(ultimate for my pocketbook) and speaking of order of importance: the cartridge would be first, followed by TT, followed by phono pre, followed by preamp, followed by power amp, and last the speakers.
The speakers will display whatever the preceding components present to them. The speakers are followers, not leaders, therefore, out of that batch of components, they are the least important.
In terms of expense, I would like for the cartridge, TT, and phono-pre to be as much as I could squeeze out, hopefully rated Class A or B by Stereophile, no lower than Class B (that's my frame of reference) same for pre-amp and power-amp. Some of us have unlimited budgets, I don't, and since speakers are suppose to follow the leaders, that's where I go with a good pair of neutral speaker, not the most expensive. In my scheme of things, speakers come in last relative to expensive components.