The sound coming out of my speakers is awful.....lots and lots of distortion, sounds like a transistor radio turned all the way up, if you know what I mean (if you are old enough to have been around transistor radios, lol,) hissy and garbled, really rough....After reading everything that has been said (and you've been fortunate to receive inputs in this thread from a lot of very knowledgeable folks, including Mofi and his kindly offer), I definitely would not rule out the phono stage at this point. In fact, if you have confidence that the tracking force adjustment was done correctly (Doug was correct, of course, in mentioning inadequate VTF as a possibility to suspect), and if upon close inspection the orientation of the cantilever doesn't look bizarre in any way while a record is being played, a phono stage problem would be at or near the top of my list of suspects.
There is a tube phono-stage/step up in the mix as well, but I really don't think that is the source of the problem - I really think I have done something wrong with the cartridge alignment....
Hopefully you can try the other phono stage you mentioned having. If that phono stage turns out to be unsuitable, though, or if the results are inconclusive for whatever reason, one thing to try would be to simply remove and reinsert the tubes a couple of times. It's conceivable that after a number of years of non-use enough corrosion might have developed on a tube pin or socket contact to cause the problem, which would probably be scraped away by doing that.
Also, if the phono stage contains multiple tubes of the same type, try swapping their locations and seeing what happens. If the symptoms change significantly, it would cast suspicion on one of those tubes.
Finally, let us know the make and model of the phono stage, which might stimulate some further thoughts.
Regards,
-- Al