Why does my vinyl sound so bright?

Yes -- start over and remount the cartridge. Verify ALL parameters, as each will affect the other.

"Garbled and warbly" may mean the cart is disfunctional as you say. Some damage will show up on visual inspection, if you have a clear recollection of how the cart looked when new. Inspect the cantilever to see if it is centred in the mount. Other damage--a failed suspension for example--may be invisible and not show up until you try to play a record.

Is it possible the VTF is reading wrong? That might happen if the counterweight has moved. A setting much too low or much too high might give you garbled and warbly (although warbly might be TT speed instability too, I suppose).

You could start over again, as Ncarv suggests, right back to remounting the cart and balancing the arm. Check to make sure the stylus is clean, first!

It's just a thought, but if you moved the TT to the shelf with the main platter still mounted on the bearing, the suspension could have bounced some. A lot of bounce can throw settings off or worse.

Arthur, absolutely start completely over and remount as Ncarv mentioned...good luck!

How clean is your stylus? A gooped up stylus can make things sound garbled and distorted.

As for the original problem, I'll vote with Eldartford. I think you are discovering that where ever and on what ever the table was originally sited was causing some smearing that made the presentation sound warmer. After moving the table to its new location you are hearing better attack and harmonics. Stll, it never hurts to re-check everything.

Cleaned the stylus, the mounting is visually good, and it measures properly. I'm going to take it (tonearm and all) tomorrow to a local shop to have it looked at, I'm relatively certain the stylus is damaged/significantly altered somehow. It sounds like rocks and water are running under it during playback, I don't know much, but I know this sounds like something much more than an alignment issue.

Thanks for all the help!