Lou,
swap the leads at the back of the cartridge. That will tell you if the problem is in the tonearm wiring. This will also indicate if you should suspect the cartridge. If the tonearm wires check out you'll just have to go over all of the settings. Recheck the alignment. For now just set the arm as level as you can with the platter surface so that VTA is reasonable and make sure your VTF is within range. Make sure your azimuth is not way off.
swap the leads at the back of the cartridge. That will tell you if the problem is in the tonearm wiring. This will also indicate if you should suspect the cartridge. If the tonearm wires check out you'll just have to go over all of the settings. Recheck the alignment. For now just set the arm as level as you can with the platter surface so that VTA is reasonable and make sure your VTF is within range. Make sure your azimuth is not way off.