Phono Stage, Tonearm, Cartridge Question - Which is the most important?

Within the past two weeks there was another thread on this same subject, with similar very serious inconclusive responses. Why not search the archives? Cartridge>tonearm>TT, with high marks to the phono stage.

Well, let’s see after about fifty years owning turntables… probably six or seven. I am not a churner. My rule of thumb is spend equally on the turntable as the phonostage. So given a good tt… then the phono stage is number one. Typically I will spend more on a tt than a cartridge and arm, so the tt second. Then cartridge and arm about the same.

So Phono stage, turntable and finally the tone arm and cartridge. Obviously there is a lot of wiggle room. They all must be compatible and of the kind that sound like you want.

Let me check my thinking: is it the opposite of what Jason Borne recommended? Yes, check. So that is my answer. PS, TT then equally arm and cartridge… very generally.

To me,  of the three, that cartridge is by far the most important, then I'd give the edge the tonearm then phono.

@mulveling I am in total agreement. Especially that, I would guess, 90% of turntables come with a tonearm which really can not be replaced with a different one.

ghdprentice and any others, The question was to rank TT, tonearm, and Cartridge in order of importance for max SQ.  And I find myself agreeing with Jason Bourne.