The Sound of Silence, Ticks and Pops
I have always experienced some hum or static noise with my analog playback. Found a phono cable that minimized RF interference. But some noise remained, I theorized from lack of proper grounding, static crackle when I touched the tonearm, for example. I ignored it and just turned the volume up. Then I changed amp (to an integrated) and the first thing I noticed was how much quieter my system was. But the static crackle and occasional hum was still there. A quick search led me to some previous discussions regarding grounding. So I whipped up some cable and connected my phono stage and amp to the window metal grill with alligator clips. Absolute silence. I think someone wrote somewhere that one could either raise the listening volume or lower the noise floor. I was discovering lower noise floor. And ticks and pops? When I played this LP it was full of ticks and pops. But when Ella sang Someday he'll come along The man I love... And when he ...