Update:

The distortion disappeared after about five hours of record playback, which did seem like an eternity when you're playing 78s limited to 3 minutes per side. But now months later and what I would approximate around 12 hours of playback time, both Rachel and the Audio Nirvana 15" alnico sound magnificent and are only getting better over time. Patience really pays off here.

Once I upgrade the C8's, in about half a year, to a S.E.T. pre-amp with tube power supply and tube roll off, turnover, and high cut filters I'm absolutely certain I'll never desire to upgrade in audio ever again. I can definitively say Rachel's marriage material even if I have to bridge to mono with her.

It's amazing to hear direct to disc both acoustic and electric recordings bring musical performances 100 years old back to life in some of the best fidelity possible.

I do have one complaint which I don't think is a 'design flaw'. I have four inputs for Rachel and when I switch between them, she makes a VERY loud pop. It's loud even with the volume control's at 12 o'clock. At full volume, what I always play music at, the first time I switched the pop did sound loud enough to damage the speaker. So having to switch between my two C8's is a slight PITA as I have to make three adjustments on Rachel to do so: turn volume down all the way, switch input, then turn volume all the way back up. This is on top of the volume, turnover, and roll off corrections I have to make on my C8's for every disc.