What is the chain of importance in analog system ?

It is refreshing that a string could bring so much diversity of ideas and concepts and still maintain civility.

All of the above discussion brings credence to what I refer to as;"The charm of vinyl".

Indeed the chain of components and the symbiotic relationship of all the parts of the process of listening to analog music reproduction is a great metaphor to nature and life.It shows the human love of touching,gathering,and listening,often to artists that are no longer with us.We bid on Agon and Ebay for those discs that were made decades ago from all parts of the world.We listen to wide and diverse cultural collections of offerings. From Renaissance european madrigals to Tibetan monks. How cool is that?
Then there is the very human expression of cover art and the actual touching and preparation of the discs.We wash,steam,anti-static zap,clean again then listen.Than analyze what we are hearing both sonically and for artistic content.This is so much more tactile and human than a computer (digital) and IMHO more enjoyable.

Now to answer the topic:
It seems to me that "good" reproduction of "good" vinyl can be done without huge outlays of funds.The notion of "good" is of course,subjective and relative and this is where the disclaimer "in my humble opinion(IMHO)"comes into play.
I have found through my years of listening to many systems that symmetry is all important.I also feel that there is a diminishing returns threshold that is reached very quickly.A "good" table with a "good" cartridge can achieve magic but can also be limited.The same can be said for very expensive and renowned rigs.Needless to say subjectivity is everything here.
It seems that there is so much good stuff out there now that it is hard to lose.
Personally I have a VPI HWM19 jr. This is considered a good but limited table.It has the Audioquest PT6 arm and a Benz Gold pickup going to a NAD PP2 phono section.None of these is state of the art and are quite outdated compared to the newer VPI line not to mention a host of other super rigs. But it has symmetry and illicit general praise from those that hear it.I also have a crappy old Realistic-Radio Shack direct drive with a AudioTechnica AT62E.It too makes magic on my man cave system. It has symmetry.
In conclusion (very long winded)I am not sure what I would classify as the most important component of the chain,but I would say to balance the components together with the concept of symmetry tempered by wallet and musical taste.

"Then there is the very human expression of cover art and the actual touching and preparation of the discs."

That is the thing I miss most with CDs specifically.

With digital music servers however, the various controller programs available these days are getting more functional and affordable in terms of providing access to internet-based content relevant to what is playing.

I use the VisualMR program on both Windows Laptop and PDA (see my system description) to access my music servers via Roku Soundbridge. It displays inforamtion on screen like composer, album art, and other information on a song while playing and has some capability to access album art from amazon and Itunes (though the Amazon access has had some issues of late). Each new version of Visual MR released gets better in regards to providing more relevant inforamtion. Holding a PDA or otehr hand held device to get to recording related information makes me miss 33 1/3 album packaging a little less than before with CDs.

If it were me, I would start marketing good digital source material (CDs or whatever comes next) in fun, readable packages similar to old 33/1/3 albums. That would provide both good sound and a functional package, unlike most CD packages today.

BTW my theory is the older and more sight challenged you get, the more you will tend to despise CDs because the packaging remains largely on of the most user unfriendly mass market creations ever conceived.

I think I would look for a VPI Aries 1 with the old heavy platter.Get a outer ring and update the arm to a JMW 12.6.Then find a used ZYX Airy or Fuji. I can't give a good recommendation for a transformer/preamp since I have not really heard any in that price point. Same goes for cables.We don't really have any good Audio boutiques here that have vinyl rigs to compare.Not the mention that the one we have is very uncomfortable for listening at all (IMHO). Oh for the good ol days of enthusiastic shops where we listened for hours sometimes.
We do however have a group in town that have get togethers at each other's homes with some very good systems.

I would think that with the budget you have allotted that you could and should have a great time deciding and should have high expectations.