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


I would appreciate some advice on what I can do to improve my record listening pleasure. I have rescently purchased the Project perspective turntable and have installed the Sumiko blackbird MC cartridge as well. So far I am very disappointed in the sound quality from top to bottom. At this point I seem to be throwing money right down the tubes. My equiptment consists of a McIntosh C37 preamp with the standard MM output and 2 McIntosh 7200 amps with Aerial 9 speakers. I also have an ESound E5 cd player which has been upgraded by Joseph Chow (early 70s Kenwwood fame).
powers55
I have a 2 turntables hooked up to my C22/MC275 combination. An old Shure V15 Type III on a "high end" Technics and a Music Hall MMF7.

Both play excellant! I think the Sumiko is your problem...
Larkyparka, the only reason I am asking for help in this forum is to find solutions that will produce the best possible sound from my existing equiptment and to purchase if necessary, the only things that will allow me to reach that goal. It's a lot cheaper to get good advice from the knowledgable people in this forum then simply buy what I think will work. After all I have been away from vinyl for more than 20 years now and with 600+ Lps that haven't seen a turntable in that time span, things have changed. In the past I would audition stereo components before I purchased them, unfourtionetly there are no high end audio stores in my location.
Powers55...I hadn't tumbled to the fact that you have a MC pickup plugged into a MM input. You do need a different phono preamp, but perhaps not the multi-kilobuck kind. Why not try a MC transformer, inserted between the pickup and your existing preamp, which I'm told can be had for about $100. Some people actually prefer a transformer to an active MC preamp. I used a transformer (which cost significantly more than $100) for quite a while, and it worked every bit as well as the active MC preamp that I used later.
Eldartford, that was definitely the way I was thinking. any suggestions on a product that would be a good match for my system?
What am I missing here? Powers55 has a Sumiko Blackbird, which is a high output MC with 2.5mv output. The KAB gain calculator returns 40dB as the required gain for a 2.5mv cartridge. The McIntosh C37 phono section has a rated sensitivity of 2.5mv (exactly the output of the Blackbird) and a rated gain of 40dB (exactly the gain needed calculated by KAB). Why would he need a step-up or outboard phono preamp? I'm puzzled by some of the responses here.