I agree with the above regarding proper setup of the table and cartridge. There is one way to rule out a faulty setup--spin a few CD's. How does your system sound when you are using the digital playback? If there is a marked difference for the worse then you have isolated the table and cartridge as the source of the problem. If both sound bad the problem is elsewhere. If you are getting really bad sound my first suspect would be the room and setup of the loudspeakers. Have you tried moving things around? If the sound is simply not as good as you heard in the showroom with the same equipment then I would concentrate on the room/speaker interaction. If the sound is just a little lackluster then I think the problem may be your amp and speaker interface. I extensively auditioned the Aerial 7B's twice. The first time with a 60wpc Macintosh tube amp. The sound was warm but really slow and lacking in dynamic energy. In fact, I was ready to walk out of the demo after a few discs. We then hooked up a 200wpc solid state amp and holy cow did those speakers come to life. The Aerials are warm anyway so they don't really need tubes--they need POWER. If the sound you are getting is overripe, sluggish and lacking toe tapping excitement, try a different set of electronics. The Aerials are nice but they really need some juice--I don't think your Mac is doing them justice.
Trying to get back into Lps, I seem to be throwing
I would appreciate some advice on what I can do to improve my record listening pleasure. I have rescently purchased the Project perspective turntable and have installed the Sumiko blackbird MC cartridge as well. So far I am very disappointed in the sound quality from top to bottom. At this point I seem to be throwing money right down the tubes. My equiptment consists of a McIntosh C37 preamp with the standard MM output and 2 McIntosh 7200 amps with Aerial 9 speakers. I also have an ESound E5 cd player which has been upgraded by Joseph Chow (early 70s Kenwwood fame).