Quote Originally Posted by slate1
First off, good call on taking it to your local shop. That's your best resource for resolving a problem.

A couple of things to note - what you are describing, in my experience, is either a classic example of mis-tracking, or you're overloading the phono-preamp. I've never heard the distortion you're describing as a result of improper VTA, impedence or capacitive loading.

If you've got the Moon set to 60db of gain, that's probably your problem - if it's set to 40db, then it's most probably mistracking.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the 30th Aniv. Ed. of DSotM is a notoriously difficult LP to properly track. However, the M97 is an excellent tracker and should be up to the task.

If you've got the phono pre-amp set at 40db, then I don't think there's any question that the cartridge is just mis-aligned. I don't, and never will, trust the Rega alignment protractor. It's crap - Roy Gandy does a LOT of things right, but he grossly oversimplifies the need for absolute proper alignment and proper record cleaning.

If you want to give it a go on your own, go to The Vinyl Engine and download a Rega Stevenson protractor and use it to properly align the cartridge - be patient, it's a lengthy and tedious process. The suggestion to align to Baerwald is a good idea, but, with the Rega arm there are far and few cartridges that will allow you to align to Baerwald due to the arms geometry.
Thanks - I'll check the phono amp today when I get home. I've got to take it to the shop to get a spacer anyways - so they'll align for me. At least they said the would when I bought the TT a month or so ago.