Ortofon carts are too hot for my phono preamp?

Actually, the math above was helpful.  I just set inputs on the preamp to 2.8v - up from 2.0. If the Bronze and the Black are really closer to 8mV then 2.0 was too low. 

Checking now to see if there is any improvement. 

Thanks all. Check out these measurements:

https://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/index.php/vinyl-lp/25-cartridges/174-ortofon-2m-bronze-2m-black.html?start=3

They measure the output of the Bronze at 7.9 and the Black at 8.6.  Those are pretty hot, yes?  It may vary by individual cart.  

Also, I have the bronze and the black mounted on different TTs and they both display this issue with the Pulsus.  The Pulsus is otherwise a super nice phono pre, which is why I would like to keep using it.

So there is no reasonable way to tame the output of the cartridges?

Thanks!  Well I suppose a passive line stage would be similar. I do worry about loss of quality with such measures. 

"I just set inputs on the preamp to 2.8v - up from 2.0."  What does that mean? And are you referring to the phono stage or to your linestage?

Referring to my line stage, just in case the distortion was happening there.  It may actually be both,  in the sense that the hotness of the cart combines with the high gain of the phone preamp to create a cascade of distortion issues. 

I don't think it is an alignment issue, in the sense that it happens with two different TTs and I recall having had this issue for a long time - I just hadn't focused on vinyl for a number of years and am now re-living what I had thought was the issue years ago. 

The challenge is that I really do not want to waste my investment in all of these 2M carts or in the Pulsus phono stage.  But they don't seem to like each other too much.  The Pro-ject phonostage sounds OK...but it isn't at the same level that the Pulsus is "supposed" to be...at least judging by price and reviews.  

Not too bright, actually. There's no sibilance, for example.

Too hot - as in loud transients and other loud passages seem to be creating distortion, and doesn't seem to occur with my other phono pre.  

In general, I enjoy the sound.  But every third or fourth LP, maybe the louder ones, seem to have some distortion. 

As above I am also adjusting my line stage to see if a higher input setting helps reduce it.  Ran out of time yesterday...

It’s not obvious to me that the phono stage per se is responsible for the “problem”, if it even is a problem.

It's not obvious to me either, other than by process of elimination it is the combo of those carts with that phono pre that yields distortion.  I have a few integrated amps with phono stages in them...I will see if I can reproduce the distortion through anything else. 

The above article also says that the headroom isn't as indicated in the specs.  And those carts have been measured at hotter than 5mV albeit as above there is some question about that.  

What I do know is that specific combination produces distortion. The Avid is really good at digging out details from some records, and with the shibata on the 2M Black and Black SE I get some great detail, again from some recordings.  Those that are at higher volume are the issue. 

 I can vouch for the cable from turntable to phono stage make a big difference.

Interesting. But neither of my TTs has removable cables...aren't we talking surgery to replace those?