I just eBayed a Denon DP-23F turntable with a Grado Black cartridge installed and I have it connected to the phono pre-amp of a Sony STR-D990. I aligned the cartridge, but fairly high level clear tones, like vocals and horns, seem to be clipping (badly), regardless if I use tracking force of anywhere from 1 to 3g (Grado recommends 1.5). The input signal doesn't appear to be too high - I monitor it via the line input meter of the D990 and also a patched spectrum analyzer - looks like it has significant headroom. Both the table and the cartridge came together (used) from the previous owner and the stylus arm (from the cartridge to the stylus) was curved in the horizontal axis, so I straightened it when I heard the distortion, but no improvement was heard. Is my cartridge damaged? Do I risk damage to my LP collection until I replace it?