Static electricity: Unique to Vinyl Systems?

Yes, as Marakanetz indicated since the voltage levels provided by phono cartridges are vastly lower than those provided by digital sources, and are therefore amplified by vastly greater amounts, vinyl sources are much more susceptible to the effects of RFI, EMI, static, etc.

There have been more than a few threads here in the past in which people were even faced with the problem of hearing radio stations through their system when listening to phono sources.

Regards,
-- Al

Is there carpet under your system? Is the heat in your dwelling extremely dry? Is your system powered by multiple AC circuits?

Vic Damone--yes, yes, and yes.
I only had a few minutes to play with it yesterday . I disconnected the 2 digital sources that were poweredby wall warts. (squeeze box touch and a cheap Project headphone amp). Made no difference. The other higher end digital sources ( Dac, 2 disc spinners) have high end power cords and are turned off when playing vinyl.
If I have to shut off every light in the house and disconnect all digital sources every time I want to spin a record, then I'm done playing vinyl.
I will focus efforts on humidifying the room and eliminating dust in the upcoming week, but I fear the rfi answer maybe the case here.

If I have to shut off every light in the house and disconnect all digital sources every time I want to spin a record, then I'm done playing vinyl.

Hopefully it is only one of those things that is causing the problem. After turning everything off, if the problem disappears you would then incrementally turn things back on until you determine which of them is the cause.

The quickest way to do that is by means of what is referred to as a "binary search pattern." You would turn half of the lights and other things back on. If the problem returns you would know it is being caused by something in that group. If it doesn't return you would know it is being caused by something in the other group. Then you would turn on half of the things in the suspect group, which would allow you to isolate the cause to 1/4 of the number of things that were originally turned off. You would continue that process until you isolate the specific cause.

I have experienced some instances where compact fluorescent lights that were in marginal condition, toward the end of their useful life, emitted large amounts of RFI, while the same model bulbs in new condition did not.

Regards,
-- Al

I have room conditions similar to the OP and have an old Radio Shack anti-static carbon fiber record brush I use on each record prior to playing. THat seems to help remove static electricity accumulated on vinyl prior to playing. Been doing this with success for a long time. I take it for granted somewhat these days but would not want to be without it. IT was a $10 or so item at Radio Shack back when vinyl was still king. Not sure if still available or who might sell a similar device these days but willing to bet they are still out there somewhere.