Trying to get back into Lps, I seem to be throwing

Some of the comments written so far are useful, Eldartford on the other hand remains who he is!

The biggest issue with analog sounding good is a matter of set up.

Great gear will not sound great if it's not set up right. Set up is not terribly difficult, but it is time consuming. There are a number of places to find good information about set up. One of the best basic primers is Laura Deerborn's book "Good Sound."

Don't give up on what is a superior medium without giving it time to break in and be properly set up.

First of all thanks to everyone who has responded to my distress call. Actually I'm a vinyl junkie from the late 60s thru most of the 70s. That's when you could go to practically any stereo shop and pick up a very rewarding system for not near the prices of today. Rushton your answers are spot on especially the alignment of the cartridge. I have aligned several cartridges in the past and I am very confident that the Blackbird is aligned properly via alignment and balance tools. The Burn in time on the cartridge is approximetly 20 Lps. The sound quality of the Lps seems to have not near the bass I enjoy with cds, the upper end seems to be a little thin and bright for my taste as well. A friend of mine suggests getting a better phono preamp but I am hesitant in doing so for fear of getting the wrong one, there are so many phono preamps to choose from. Also I was wondering why I have to crank the volume knob much more when I play Lps compared to when I play cds?

If my math is correct you've only put about 13 hours on the cartridge. I don't know specifics about the Blackbird but what you're describing is consistent what one might hear from a cartridge that is not broken in. I'd be prone to give it at least 50 hours.

You have to crank the volume because you're running a MC cartridge into a MM phono input and you don't have enough gain! Get a MC phono stage, borrow one if you have to, and see how much better it sounds. Beyond that it's likely that cd's will sound a bit louder even with a proper phono stage because the output is typically higher than vinyl. So go get that phono pre, until you do you won't have anything approaching good sound.

Jond, as Rushton mentioned the Blackbird is a 2.5mV MC so I wouldn't think Powers needs a phono stage. However, you did make me stop and think that this could also be the first time that the phono circuit in his McIntosh has been used. If that is the cast we could be talking a few hundred hours for everything to settle in.