Interesting Article

Dweller, You've got a problem. Some set-ups do communicate ticks and pops in excess, and yours might be one of them. I listened to LPs about 2 hours per night, each of the last 4-5 nights. A few LPs have a very few ticks and pops. By and large though, I am able to enjoy the music without any thought to surface noise. The sense of dynamics is superior to that afforded by RBCDs. (SACD and other hi-res sources are great, too, IMO.) If you're not happy with vinyl, don't listen to vinyl, but don't infer that everyone else is a clod, if they are not plagued by ticks and pops. You might begin by checking your choice of cartridge and its matching to your phono stage. Factors that artificially enhance high frequencies, like RF interference, can play a role in highlighting tracking glitches.

Dweller, You asked how could your Ayre phono stage be "causing" clicks and pops. I don't think it's per se causing the problem, but the Ayre stuff does have a very wide bandwidth, probably up to megacycles. Thus, any RF that's getting into your system can add to the hf response even down into the audio spectrum, tilt it upwards, so as to emphasize the ticks and pops. Also, in ways I do not quite understand myself, the cartridge itself can be a culprit, or its alignment. You have very high quality equipment. Did you say you're using a Sumiko cartridge?

Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Besides "Bedazzled" in 1967, which nearly caused me to die from laughing, my favorite bit of theirs is the one-legged man trying out for the part of Tarzan. Cook as director, Moore as the hopeful one-legged actor.