Possible cause of harsh mids?

What millercarbon sez...

Spitty sibilants and scratchy violin sections have been my audio bete noir for decades.

Can spitty sibilants and “static” in high amplitude passages also be an amplification issue?  I upgraded my turntable and think I have the alignment of a nice soundsmith cartridge fairly dialed in using Peter Lederman’s instructions and test record.  SQ is way improved and I’m hearing so much more in the music, but sometimes on some records I also what pkatsuleas describes.  Of course one improvement often tempts another, and now I’m looking askance at my 30 year old B&K preamp and amp.  Trying to talk myself (and wife) into new Brystons.

try backing off on the phono preamp gain.....

There's a process for figuring out what is causing what. If it was a gain issue then the problem would be present every single time the volume got loud. That is not at all what was described. So it has nothing to do with gain. 

Likewise, if it had anything to do with the amp then it would be consistent. So the one simple fact that it is occasional tells us it can't be the amp. Then to test if it is what I said it gets a little harder. The way I know for sure is what I said, having heard multiple copies of the same record on the same table so the only thing left to explain it is pressing quality.  

Then having heard it and knowing exactly what it sounds like the next time it happens I know what it is. There's just no doubt any more. But that is because I went through the learning curve. 

sryeager, this is in no way an attempt to talk you out of buying a new amp. I would never ever try and talk anyone out of buying a new Raven amp. Or Decware, for that matter. 

Congratulations on the Soundsmith cart. It will be so sweet with a Raven, you will forget all about the occasional spitty pressing.

Thanks.  I hadn’t thought of that.  I’ll give it a try.  I think I may have kicked it up a notch way back when I got the phono preamp (Musical Surroundings NovaPhonomena) to bring the phono volume up to the level of the tuner and CD player.  The phono was quieter when I was using the preamp’s phono stage.