Octuple,
Before you give up on us, realize that this question has been tossed around repeatedly for years here. A search of the archives will turn up many old discussions on your topic - none of which will provide an authoritative answer!
One fairly non-controversial bit of advice: do not spend big dollars on a cartridge if you'd have to mount it on a relatively inexpensive tonearm or turntable or play it through a relatively inexpensive phono stage. You won't hear what the cartridge is capable of, so a limited budget is better spent on components that hold their value. You can get money for used tonearms, tables or phono stages. Getting money for a used cartridge is much more difficult.
Buying "too much" cartridge for an entry level rig is a classic error, and one that's less likely than most to satisfy.
PsychicConfucious' advice to establish system goals is good, very good, but you need some experience hearing different things to do that. However, the sooner you understand your own sonic goals the fewer expensive mistakes you'll make.
Our ratio? 6:7:4:8 - and of course it's perfect! ;-)
