Inner Tracks Sound Raspy

Thought I'd try vinyl again. I have close to 100 old LPs from the 70s and 80s that I purchased when I was first became involved with high-end stereo. Admittedly, some of the old platters are in better shape than the others.

So . . ., to get started again, I wanted to start out slowly. I bought a refurbished Thorens TD 160 w/ stock TP 16 tone arm, which included a Grado Sonata cartridge. My first reaction, quite frankly, was surprise. I hope this is not audiophile heresy, but my old vinyl sounds better than my CDs.

But I do have a problem with the vinyl playback. It seems that the pick-up on the inner record tracks is a little raspy and distorted, especially when playing complex music such as orchestral.

The TT and arm appear to be working just fine. I double checked and reset VTF. VTA looks ok too. I also went on Vinyl Engine and checked cartridge compliance and I think the Sonata is ok with the Thorens tone arm. Finally, I increased anti-skating force and that seemed to help somewhat, but the problem continues to persist.

My question to my fellow A'goners is whether this is normal in the case of vinyl or is something else at play here?

Associated equipment is ARC PH-7 (phono pre); ARC Ref 3 (line stage) and ARC VS 115 (amp).

Thanks for the advice.