Ortofon carts are too hot for my phono preamp?

"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...

Sell both your phono preamps. The Avid, at 48dB gain is apparently too sensitive to overloading by your not abnormally high output MM cartridges, and the Pro-Ject because you don’t respect its quality.  Then buy a Spartan 20, which is £500 and has impeccable accuracy, generous overload margins, and negligible noise.  You will be hearing your records, not your preamp.