Whats wrong

So, the problem WAS related to slow speed during warm-up?
The suspense is killing me. However, the bottom line is that you're happy with it now.

Lewm initially the table played slow, and than it was fine after warmup. Problem was that the table got steadily worse until it played slow at all times. Once the table was re-greased and new belts installed the problem was solved. Special thanks to Peter at PBN.

Maintenance means a lot...on cars, and on stereos. My stereo was sounding progressively crappy. At first I thought my ears were going (they probably are), but was able to bring the whole system back to life by cleaning all the cable connections. Made a very big difference.