phono preamp crackling

i promised i'd post a response once i figured out what was going on. i'm fairly sure i know where the cause of the crackling lies.

first, some have speculated that i have noise in or around my system. there are no fluorescent lights nearby (at least that are on), and i have two dedicated lines from my breaker box to a quad receptacle to power my hi fi equipment. so i don't think that is the problem. also, i tried the suggestion from almarg, and set my tuner to an am station but did not hear any crackling through the tuner.

i think the problem is in the phono stage itself. the only way i can get the crackling to stop is by tapping on the back of the gcph. the crackling stops completely. note that i have made sure all the connections in and out of the gcph are secure. i'm using balanced connections out, the grounds from my TT are very tightly secured, as are the rca's from the TT. again, a couple taps towards the back of the phono stage and all crackling is gone, at least for awhile. i figure there is something loose in the phono stage.

if you have any other thoughts let me know and thanks again for all the suggestions.

first, thank you for the replies.

to photon46, yes it seemed that when i placed the phono preamp in different locations relative to the TT that the freq of the crackling noises would change. i'm no sure now however, read on.

to audiofeil, if it is excessive gain in the system, what am i to do? i am new at this.

i just played about 1.5 hours of vinyl. for three sides worth of music i had no problems. then the crackling started. i moved the phono interconnects back and forth but that didn't produce any effects.

i put back on the first record, i.e. the one where i was having no crackling, but now there is crackling, so it's not the records.

maybe it is a build-up of static electricity. however, i have no carpet nearby (wood floors). also, the humidity here is 65% today which is enough to deter static electricity, though perhaps not enough when playing vinyl. i don't have a zerostat gun so i haven't tried that. another $100!

also, i have not been using the mat that comes with the TT, i've been placing the record directly on the platter with no mat. seems like this would make for less static, but i really don't know. i guess i could try the mat, but then i have to readjust the tonearm height.

as for the IC's from the TT to phono preamp, i assume they are shielded. the ic's came with the TT (marantz 15s1). the owners manual didn't say one way or the other about shielding.

thanks again.

thanks kg. i'll look into the ionoclast. i live in the deep north, and things will only get worse when winter arrives and my furnace kicks in.

as noted above, i do not have tubes in my system, ergo tubes are not the problem.

i don't notice problems when i touch the controls of the preamp--i think the crackling is independent of that, so the preamp is likely not the problem. on the other hand, the preamp may be very sensitive to static. i can still get crackling when i've turned the TT motor off and taken the arm off the lp.

i ordered an ionoclast today and it should be here by the end of the week. after i use it, i'll post on how well it worked. in the meantime, if anyone has other ideas please let me know.

thanks.