Ortofon carts are too hot for my phono preamp?

"I just set inputs on the preamp to 2.8v - up from 2.0."  What does that mean? And are you referring to the phono stage or to your linestage?

Referring to my line stage, just in case the distortion was happening there.  It may actually be both,  in the sense that the hotness of the cart combines with the high gain of the phone preamp to create a cascade of distortion issues. 

I don't think it is an alignment issue, in the sense that it happens with two different TTs and I recall having had this issue for a long time - I just hadn't focused on vinyl for a number of years and am now re-living what I had thought was the issue years ago. 

The challenge is that I really do not want to waste my investment in all of these 2M carts or in the Pulsus phono stage.  But they don't seem to like each other too much.  The Pro-ject phonostage sounds OK...but it isn't at the same level that the Pulsus is "supposed" to be...at least judging by price and reviews.  

"The Pro-ject phonostage sounds OK...but it isn’t at the same level that the Pulsus is "supposed" to be...at least judging by price and reviews."  

That is no guarantee that it will sound good in your system!

"Bill, Not a good idea because of capacitance.  Capacitance will cause a HF roll off probably before you notice a loss of gain."

I agree, my idea was to test to see if a loss of gain helped by using a set of long cables if they are available.  Then having a pair of phono cables made with an increase in resistance, but by being normal length not an increase in capacitance.  Steven Huang who owns Audio Sensibility in Toronto is an electrical engineer and my go-to guy for all things wire.  I believe he may be able to help.

It’s interesting to read that the original poster found Ortofon’s too bright. Through my NAD phono preamp I find Ortofon’s flat and rolled off at the top. Much better synergy with AT’s and Goldring’s. I guess everyone experiences sound differently.

Not too bright, actually. There's no sibilance, for example.

Too hot - as in loud transients and other loud passages seem to be creating distortion, and doesn't seem to occur with my other phono pre.  

In general, I enjoy the sound.  But every third or fourth LP, maybe the louder ones, seem to have some distortion. 

As above I am also adjusting my line stage to see if a higher input setting helps reduce it.  Ran out of time yesterday...