Turntable noobie...what advice do you have?

Alright, the RPM 3 Carbon was delivered as well as the Mobile Fidelity StudioPhono.  I set the turntable up and the the stylus pressure using the little balancing stylus pressure gauge that came with it.  I have a digital scale but I wanted to use the other method first. I hooked up the wiring and connected it all to my amp.  I cleaned my Purple Rain album, put it on and started the motor.  Everything is move correctly so I positioned the arm/stylus and used the little level to drop it.  Low and behold...MUSIC!!!  Unfortunately it was Alvin and the Chipmunks doing a cover of Prince's Purple Rain.  So I lifted the arm and stopped the motor. I then moved the belt to the other spindle and tried again.  Much better this time.  Prince sounded much more like himself. 

I am currently listening to Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon and it sounds great.  Some pops here and there but certainly nothing that takes away from the music.  However, I went to adjust the volume and realized that I do that through the pre-amp/DAC which is not in this chain.   My amp does does not have its own volume control.  I checked the player and I don't see one nor do I see anything on the Mobile Fidelity.  DOH! Does anyone have an idea to make this work?  The only thing I can think of is to find cables that will go from RCA (phone side) to 3 pin XLR so that I can connect it into my pre-amp/DAC.  

@grossman616

How did we ever live without the wisdom of your 85 posts?

Hey ddonicht,

Personally I'm a died in the wool vinyl guy, & as much as I hate to say it .... CHAYRO  maybe correct with his 1st statement. I grew up with records, so I learned how to handle them, clean them, and they're not all created =.

Good Hi-Fi records are expensive, most used R&R recordings from the 70's/80's bye in large are crap unless you get 1st pressings & the list goes on. To add to that, a lot of modern speakers have been voiced for digital sources.

Economically speaking, it's been my experience that a superior analog set-up will cost you at least double to that of a comparable Cd rig.

 If you plan to eventually go in to this hobby full on, like a lot of us have. With a dedicated listening room that's treated, with it's own plugs wired directly from the panel, and your gear is isolated, then sure, you'll be able to justify the added expense of going down the vinyl road. But if you're married, have your gear set-up in a Victorian tea room with springy wooden floors ..... the advantages of an analog set-up will not be audible.  

@ddonicht - you can buy rca to xlr adaptors to plug into your preamp. Check Amazon. They have cables and adaptors. 

Before you consider the more expensive moving coil cartridge consider the following: When the stylus on a moving magnet cartridge wears out it is easy and inexpensive  to change the stylus. But when a moving coil stylus wears out it costs almost as much as replacing the cartridge to have the stylus replaced at a shop specially equipped to do so. But the lead-in wires on a moving coil cartridge vibrate with the coil and eventually fatigue fracture and the cartridge can't be repaired. Typically a stylus lasts about 1000 hours. If a moving coil cartridge costs $2000, you pay $2/hour to play records. Is the difference between the sound of a moving coil cartridge and a moving magnet cartridge noticeable enough to justify it?