surface noise reduction

@ghdprentice, I have a mid-level Thorens TT.  I am unsure what model it is.

@lewm, I will try tweeking around with the Project phonostage. I thought maybe an elliptical stylus would help.

Thanks, everyone, for the tips.  I will try some of these and reply as soon as I have success.

@atmasphere, you are right. I fiddle-faddled with the loading adjustments until I was satisfied.  Took awhile but worth the effort.  Yet I might invest in a better cart one of these days.

After checking all settings and they are correct, I inspected for tonearm angle and tracking weight, which was only a little off, I finally checked the azimuth carefully.  What I found was it too was setup correctly, BUT, a fabric fiber was stuck on the side of the stylus! My bad, since I do not let anyone else touch it.  Problem solved, plays well now.  Still thinking about the Audio Technica microline cart......It's what we do.

I do not know how that little piece of thread got stuck to the stylus.  I do clean the stylus with that little brush in a bottle, the thread didn't come off with that.  So I pulled on it and it came off cleanly.  Records sound like they should now.