Turntable versus tonearm versus cartridge: which is MOST important?

 Is this all equal to audio? 

No.

@atmasphere  Ralph, that was very incisive.

4krowme, wrong analogy. The car is the turntable and the cartridge is the motor. Regardless of what kind of race you are in, more power is ALWAYS better but you can put too much power in a vehicle that can not handle it safely. Looked at it this way there is a philosophical similarity.

Ralph, look at it this way, your bike is the turntable and your legs are the cartridge. You know darn well what happens when they fail:-)

Let's just forget about argument by analogy. This question has three components: physics, psychology (perception and taste), and economics (bang for the buck). Only the last is easy, because cartridges wear out. Psychology is obviously personal.

That leaves physics, which is plenty complicated enough to defy analysis in a thread.

I think we can all agree the most important component is to keeps spending gobs of money until all the problems and deficiencies go away...and then spend more to improve it incrementally until you go bankrupt or die!

I think it's important to get a turntable up to a certain level that the main "problems" of cheaper tables subside, and that it can facilitate a great tonearm. Preferably, it should include a whole-record clamping mechanism like a vacuum system or ring clamp. Past that, you biggest expenses should be phono stage and cartridge - properly matched, of course. And then, tonearm / cartridge matching is CRUCIAL.  

Agree with most of what you say, but the increment from a 10K turntable to a 3D air bearing was huge. Same tonearm, same cartridge.