Ok, results! After reading all the suggestions yesterday I decided to come home and completely re set-up everything from start to finish, but with even more attention to detail. Right off the bat upon someone's suggestion, I did notice the tiny red cart cable partially out, so I pressed that all the way back in. I continued to go through everything else, got out the level, ruler, magnifying glass, etc and really tried to get it right. Then I let the unit run the rest of the evening on low volume while I watched TV, just thinking of someone's comment about maybe needing more break-in.
Today I pulled out a brand new out-of-the-cellophane LP and started her up. Wow, what a difference, dynamics there, soundstage, the bass/mid bass there, something happened in a good way. The problem is, it's kind of inconclusive as I'm not sure what I did that fixed it. I have a hunch it might have been that cable, but then it might be a combination of things. I put the old Eagles album back on and definitely noticed that the older pressed vinyl was inferior. Very noticeable. Bummer as I have more "oldies" on the way from eBay that will probably sound inferior. The music is really enjoyable now and makes up for a first evening of regret and anticlimax listening. I know the break-in is controversial but I imagine it might improve with more time. Now that I think about it, I did receive a discount for an open box unit, which leads me to believe my TT may have been "tampered" with previously.
Someone above inquired which cables I was using, they are just the stock Pro-ject cables, is there a consensus that replacing them helps? Any recommendations? Tweaking is just a nature of the beast in this hobby and I would love to improve them. The rest of my system uses Audioquest, but I'm open to anything. I've read they should be TT specific cables.
I'm going to let this unit burn in for another 40-50 hours and then make a decision how deep to delve into things. As someone mentioned above, the point of diminishing returns is knocking at the door. I'm really enjoying the Rogue Audio amp as well (had a Bryston bp60 for 17 years).
Thanks again for your help. The wife isn't home yet and I'm going straight in the listening room to crank some tunes....