Will fine tune adjustments with protractor help with "brightness?"

Set-up will affect the sound. Period. I suggest that you buy the right equipment right away, and no more guessing. But note that the best installation won't do much for a damaged or malfunctioning tonearm.

Alignment will affect the sound, and is the most obvious candidate for your problem, in my opinion. Lew posted a very good response. A good protractor is worth it's weight in cursing.

So will VTA: higher at the pivot is brighter. There is a distinct point at which the sound changes from bright to mellow.

So will azimuth (looking at the cartridge from the front, the angle at which the stylus meets the record). Exactly vertical is what you want.

So will the exact angle at which the cartridge is installed, especially with more exotic stylus shapes. Good callipers are handy here to install the cartridge exactly parallel to the headshell.

So will torque on the mounting screws. I did not even bother to test such a crazy hypothesis until I saw a posting by a Linn engineer. Then I bought a torque screwdriver, and heard the difference, as did my wife, as did my friends.

Any or all of these might affect the exact problem which you identify. There are too many variables to be sure - the easiest (!!! yeah, but it's true !!) thing, is to do the most accurate installation you can, and try it out on many records. Then make fine adjustments accordingly.

Antiskating and VTF should not affect the situation you describe, unless your tonearm is malfunctioning.

Hey, it's a hobby !

@ericsch 

Oh no, Eric, you don't know what you are asking!! We trashed (sic, trashed) that out in a recent thread, when fourwnds initiated a discussion entitled, "Recent retip(canti also) Dude where did my soundstage width go".

Suffice to say, it's complicated, but worth doing.

@knollbrent 

Sorry to hear of your pain with the death of a cartridge. For what it's worth, I came very close to destroying a higher end Koetsu shortly after I bought it.

But you got right back on the horse! Congratulations on installing the new one !! Well done - I remember how much of a stretch it was, that first time.