Turntable versus tonearm versus cartridge: which is MOST important?

Luthuania you say. Where Lex Luthor lives? ;)

Not exactly, Lithuania is not far from Russia 

I have a 12" Cocobolo with Firewire and a 10.5" Ebony with Firewire. My 12" is paired up with my heavily modded TD124 and my 10.5 is on my modded 301. You can see pics in my profile

@fsonicsmith yeah, I like the cocobolo plinth veneer too. That 301 is lovely. 

Lex Luther lives in Gotham. Everyone knows that. Somewhere in the sewer system he has a subterranean mansion.

There's a chap called Mike Lavigne who has an absolute top flight system and is very approachable. I asked him the question and he said that after a certain stage in a turntable it's the improvements in the arm that are the most significant. Cartridges IMHO are often very subjective - liken it to a lens filter that may highlight some aspects better than others. When speaking to quite a few cartridge dealers and repairers of note the impression I get is that above £3000 is about getting the story of some fisherman that makes swords after reading to his grandchildren who only makes cartridges when meditating... I haven't heard enough to say one way or the other.
@chakster as a joke question I bought a JVC QL 10 with UA arm in mint condition for £400 - is a £10,000 cartridge wasted on it?

@chakster , you like cocobolo? Check out the record clamp I just made on my system page. The finger lift is also cocobolo.