Turntable Quandry

You are wasting your Chinook phono stage with that Ortofon 2M black cartridge.  Get a Low Output Moving Coil cartridge with 0.3 mv gain compatible with the Chinook at 60db.  The Dynavector DV20X2L cartridge will work great and sound so much cleaner, have better bass, bigger sound stage and will be more explosive, faster and more dynamic.  

No matter what you do get a LOMC for the biggest sound improvement.  I had the 2M black and know of what I speak.  Good luck! 

Thanks guys. So the table is good then? Just a better cart? Ill look into the MC cart too. 

You didn't specify budget but if you want a big jump up, start with the cart - something like a Hana ML that is quite good value for the money and it can me moved to a better TT down the road. 

The Manley is solid and would likely support a much better TT and an even better cart than the Hana.

Great. Anyone have a good dealer for Carts? 

The Technics are wonderful as switching carts is easy peasy with the detachable head shell. KAB makes a lot of aftermarket parts for the Technics tables. May want to look into it. Here I have a 1600 Mk2 and an SL-Q3. Not my main tables but the daily runners in separate systems. Love them both.