Trying to get back into Lps, I seem to be throwing

Perhaps your expectations regarding vinyl are too high. "Disappointment" is exactly what I try to forestall by my comments to which some guys take great offence. (Hi Albert :-))Its good points are not the same as digital, and take a lot more money and effort to realize. Good luck.

Hi Nrchy. Don't like the message? Trash the messenger. That approach never convinces me of anything.

Powers55...
If you have not used the phono preamp for many years the components in the RIAA equalization network may have changed so that the frequency response is as you describe.

Cranking up the volume control is no problem. All it means is that the phono preamp line level output is less than your CDP. When you crank up the volume control you really don't increase the gain of the circuits...you just attenuate their gain less. Probably better.

Powers55...I hadn't tumbled to the fact that you have a MC pickup plugged into a MM input. You do need a different phono preamp, but perhaps not the multi-kilobuck kind. Why not try a MC transformer, inserted between the pickup and your existing preamp, which I'm told can be had for about $100. Some people actually prefer a transformer to an active MC preamp. I used a transformer (which cost significantly more than $100) for quite a while, and it worked every bit as well as the active MC preamp that I used later.

Rauliruegas...Some people think that a transformer is a "purer" way to get gain than an active circuit. Six of one and half a dozen the other. All I know is that the Signet transformer which I used performed very well indeed, which was contrary to my expectation at the time.

Although the specs on the pickup and the electronics (as reported above) suggest that it ought to work, I still have my doubts. In fact, I guess it does "work", but not in a way that Powers55 likes.

It seems to me that trying a reasonably-priced trasformer is a practical course of action, and, as a side benefit, prepares the way for a low output MC pickup, which is where the real virtues of MC are (IMHO) to be found.