@rotarius
I figured it out, finally. It was the tonearm. I had accidentally knocked the counter weight and it nearly doubled the downforce to 2.8 from 1.8.
I remeasured the cartridge orientation. I was using a magnifier to look at the stylus as it tracked the groove. I turned the sound down to almost all the way off and I still heard the noise. As I got closer, I realized it was coming from the tonearm. I measured the downforce and it was way off. As soon as I set it back to 1.8, it was super clean.
So it was the sound of the needle digging into the grooves :(. It was actual grinding noise that the stylus was picking up and feeding into the speakers as well.
Thanks for the suggestion. :)
Ortofon Red Sound Issue
I bought the Isoacoustics ZaZen isolation platform for my turntable and was evaluating the changes to the sound quality. There was more depth and clarity, but then I realized there was a horrible sound not associated with the music. It sounded like a metal ball bearing being scraped/rolled down a metal pipe. It is loudest and more pronounced on the lead-in to any record. I even opened a brand new record, un-used, and it had the same sound on lead in. As you go further in, the sound is less if not completely gone.
Is this a stylus alignment issue, or a damaged stylus?
I recently did have to fix an issue with the turntable that affected the weight settings I had set and had to re-weigh the stylus's down force.
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