find a friendly dealer who deals in turntables and has a record cleaner, then take in one of the lps you are most familiar with, clean it up and listen to it on a good rig - then you'll get a sense of what's optimally possible. it's in the dealer's interest to do this since he then has you hooked!
Living with popping and crackling
Is there a certain amount of popping and crackling to be expected with almost any lp? I have not owned a TT since the mis 80's, but I have been listening to the brother's. I like the sound, and have an old collection of LP's, but it just seems to me that "some" popping and crackling are just the nature of the beast. Am I wrong. I would like to know this before I proceed. By the way, my brother has one of the Rega tables--lower end I think.