Trying to get back into Lps, I seem to be throwing

I agree with the above regarding proper setup of the table and cartridge. There is one way to rule out a faulty setup--spin a few CD's. How does your system sound when you are using the digital playback? If there is a marked difference for the worse then you have isolated the table and cartridge as the source of the problem. If both sound bad the problem is elsewhere. If you are getting really bad sound my first suspect would be the room and setup of the loudspeakers. Have you tried moving things around? If the sound is simply not as good as you heard in the showroom with the same equipment then I would concentrate on the room/speaker interaction. If the sound is just a little lackluster then I think the problem may be your amp and speaker interface. I extensively auditioned the Aerial 7B's twice. The first time with a 60wpc Macintosh tube amp. The sound was warm but really slow and lacking in dynamic energy. In fact, I was ready to walk out of the demo after a few discs. We then hooked up a 200wpc solid state amp and holy cow did those speakers come to life. The Aerials are warm anyway so they don't really need tubes--they need POWER. If the sound you are getting is overripe, sluggish and lacking toe tapping excitement, try a different set of electronics. The Aerials are nice but they really need some juice--I don't think your Mac is doing them justice.

Hi Nrchy. Don't like the message? Trash the messenger. That approach never convinces me of anything.

Powers55...
If you have not used the phono preamp for many years the components in the RIAA equalization network may have changed so that the frequency response is as you describe.

Cranking up the volume control is no problem. All it means is that the phono preamp line level output is less than your CDP. When you crank up the volume control you really don't increase the gain of the circuits...you just attenuate their gain less. Probably better.

Dear Powers: I agree with your friend: your C37 preamp is not up to the task. You need a better phonopreamp.
Your Blackbird is really a very fine cartridge that outperform easily your CD sound, but needs a lot better phonopreamp.

Btw, I don't know nothing about your Project TT/tonearm performance that " count " for the quality sound reproduction.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

In my experience, bass is one of cd's strengths compared to LP, so if that's your focus you're possibly in trouble. Lp's--even done cheaply (I have a very old Thorens table and a $50 cartridge)--have a quality of 'aliveness' that I don't find in cd's. Are you getting any of that? Good luck, and since you know what lp's sound like from way back, you should be able to achieve good results. I wonder sometimes about newbies who read the descriptions of analogue playback but have never heard it and what they must think the first time the needle runs over a scratch in the record.