Why are the vocals on some records hidden behind the music on my system?

First off I'm using the MM input due to the 2.12v cart. output, Second the back of the cart. is not color coded like some, but I sure I got that part right. If not wouldn't all records have the same issue?, Third I do have some floor rugs and am using some comforters hung on the wall over a garage door and insulated window shades but no actual room treatments like bass traps etc. A thought though--- would a weak motor cause changes to the platter speed have anything to do with this problem? I have been having to start the platter by hand because the motor doesn't seem to have the torque to spin it up but seems to stay steady after that?

if you place cartridge on its top and you’re facing pins, than bottom left is left earth and top left is left signal. same with right side. to eliminate issues with room treatments, try first headphones and see how things are working for you. some records may be more sensitive to out of phase than the others, but still feel like your cartridge isn't great match.

Please name a specific album and track that is problematic.

@scooby2do - Since your CD’s sound fine and some albums sound fine it would appear everything is in in phase.

How old is the cartridge?
--- could just be old age - the suspension of the stylus may be shot

Is the Anti skating set correctly?

Is the stylus worn
--- if it;s worn it could effect phase

Is the stylus/cartridge correctly aligned on the arm?
--- The more advanced stylus types (Contact Line and Shibata) requires a more precise alignment and can cause this issue

I have Optimized Contour Contact Line stylus and it required a Mint Best Protractor to get the best sound

How old is the phono stage?
--- (could be the internal electrolytic caps need replacing is the phono stage is old)

It only takes a small difference in phase between the L/R channels to cause the issues you are descibing.

I do not think the motor would not cause this issue

I’d start with checking Stylus alignment

Then I’d try switching a few IC’s between components in the analogue side of your system to see if they make a difference

As far as room treatments go ...
- the most effective I have tried is a vinyl roller blind behind the listening position. I only had it extended about 15" from the ceiling
- A piece of foam on top of book cases

It seems that the most reverberation issues in my old room occurred close to ceiling level.
The new room has very little (if any) reflected sound issues

Hope you get to the bottom of it

Regards - Steve

Do you know the phono gain via your MM inputs? It is (remotely) possible that the gain is marginal for a 2.2mV cartridge output, I suppose.  But it would help to have some more details regarding your phono stage; does it have separate MM and MC inputs, as Czarivey suggests?

Other than that, I think you may have no problem; in my experience some cartridges do tend to submerge the vocalist in favor of the instrumentalists, compared to others.  This can actually be a virtue of the cartridge, in the case where you are not listening to a single, stage-center vocal LP.  For example, I found that my Stanton 980LZS tended to paint that sort of picture.  But the Stanton excels at bringing forth internal musical threads within a group of instruments.  It's certainly not broken.  The test for this explanation, of course, is to try another cartridge.

Nothing that you wrote suggests to me that the two channels are necessarily out of phase with each other, but be sure of that, too.  Nothing at all suggests a problem with turntable speed stability; I don't know where that came from.