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.