Is it possible to suggest which is more important, the turntable or the cartridge?
I think the answer's easy. The cartridge is more important that the turntable.
It's actually the same question we get between electronics and speakers. Without question, speaker make the most difference or, expressed another way, a great speaker powered by a mediocre electronic chain will sound better than a mediocre speaker powered by the best electronic chain.
Flip that around to turntables and cartridges. The best turntable in the world won't do much to help a lousy phono cartridge.
I think the similarities in these two have much to do with their functions. Both loudspeakers and phono cartridges are electromagnetic audio generators. The phono cartridge generates electrical signals in response to its interpretation of the record grooves, while a loudspeaker generates air pressure changes in response to electrical signals.
These major transformations—motion converting to electrical signals, and electrical signals converted into motion—are so radical, relative to the functions of simple signal amplification, that (like digital/analog) all the other functions in a system combined don't add up to the sonic impacts of conversions to and from motion.
So, do electronics and turntables matter?
Absolutely they do.
It's all a matter or priorities.
