Pro-ject Essentials turntable help

[Godthul]

I recently upgraded my turntable from a sony one, to the Pro-ject essential turntable.  The receiver that I am using is a Beomaster 2400. I set the turntable up, have everything connected and grounded correctly.  For some reason I am getting a really weak and somewhat distorted sound.  It is all highs, with a little mids, and a tiny shriveled bass.  It is not the receiver or the album, as they worked fine with the other turntable.  I tried the troubleshooting tips, and I am at my wits end.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  

 

[NA Blur]

With the turntable on and the receive volume set to say 30%, but with the turntable not moving, what do you hear?
 
To me it sounds like the cartridge is not connected correctly or is not seated properly onto the record.  Double check the cartridge and make sure that the needle can reach the grooves.
 
The only other thing I can think of is that the Pro-ject does not have a pre-amp so the signal is much to low in voltage to be amped by your receiver.
 
Here is a FAQ page I found that may help you.
http://www.project-audio.com/main.php?info=faq&cat=default&lang=en
 
Straight from the Essentials page:
"• Connection to phono preamp or amplifier with phono preamp required "
 
Are you running the analog outs ( RCA ) into the phono pre on your receiver or just an aux / tape?

 

[Godthul]

I was going to the tape input on the receiver because that was what I used with my other turntable.  I switched it to phono and It sounds much better.  However, the RCA to Phono cable that I am using only has 5 pins instead of the 7 that are supposed to go into it.  Will that make a difference?  Thanks for the help.

 

[NA Blur]

Typically the pins on the phono plug pertain to the cartridge pin outs.  It may be possible that the phono jack on your receiver is setup to receive many different types of cartridges and in an effort to bias to one type they put the extra pins on the jack.
 
Read here for more info:
http://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?t=30448
 
Doing some more reading reveals that there are 7-pin cartridges out there so it may be possible that you need the extra pins.  The only way to tell that is to look at how many wires are coming out of the cartridge itself.
 
I am glad that the sound has improved.