Thanks for posting more info. Before traipsing all the way to Goodwins (or even across town), have you:
- cleaned the stylus properly?
- cleaned the record properly?
- adjusted tracking weight?
- adjusted anti-skate?
You said tracking weight and anti-skate are correctly set up. By what criteria? If they were just adjusted to some numeric value with a scale, they're only in the ballpark (at best). The only way to fine tune VTF, A/S and several other parameters is to adjust while listening to familiar music. As a rule, reducing tracking force and/or A/S will tend to bring out more detail and clarity (provided you don't go too far and incur mistracking). Every cartridge is unique, so adjusting to some recommended value without listening is only an approximation.
No technician can do this fine tweaking in a shop. A cartridge will perform differently in a shop than in your home. A cartridge will sound different in your system and room. A cartridge's performance changes with the weather and the seasons, particularly in a highly variable climate like ours in Connecticut.
Unless you're willing to pay for regular home visits by a technician, maximizing the performance of any good vinyl rig requires effective maintenance and frequent adjustments by the user.
