How important is the tonearm?

I note also dialogue about whether to spend more money on tonearm or cartridge. note this metaphor... the arm is the chassis of the automobile, the cartridge is the engine. Its more fun to have a cheap chassis with a high powered engine than to have an expensive chassis with an underpowered engine. Cartridges have distinct sound characteristics, arms help refine and dig more detail out of the cartridge playback... they can't add what isn't there to begin with.

Ah, I see. We're not thinking apples and apples. Have you heard a modern, mass loaded, non-suspended table? I'm not talking about Rega, Denon, etc.

This is a question like what's more important...the preamp or amp. In my experience I have found that given arms with the same general ranking, the cartridge makes the greater difference than does the tonearm.

Davide,
We are all free to believe what we want.......even that the earth is flat or the sun revolves around the earth.
But please don't state that a suspended turntable is better than a non-suspended one as a fact.
To you it might seem true, yet that still positions it far from a 'fact'?

High school physics hardly qualifies you to teach.

To me, with a bit of university physics, a suspended turntable, no matter what frequency the suspension is tuned to, is a 'moving' turntable.
Once the turntable is 'moving', even if the arm is moving on the same suspended platform, all bets are off.
The geometrical relationships of the stylus to the vinyl groove are forever changing and the platter is almost never horizontal.

You appear to be stuck in an 80s timewarp with a 'Linn' induced mentality?
Thankfully analogue has moved on from this mind-bending 'sect' and a superficial search of all the high-end turntable introductions over the last 10 years would leave no doubt in your mind as to the view of the majority of current turntable designers.

But if you enjoy it........please continue to do so.

A great tonearm and good cartridge will outperform a good tonearm and great cartridge all day long.

I can prove that to any or all visitors.

Dealer disclaimer.