jafant, thank you.
Well, the Bryston BCD-3 will soon be here, replacing the Meridian player.
As for my Bryston amp and preamp, Bryston does offer a "refurbishment" service. I spoke to a Bryston rep, who stated that although their amps and preamps have a 20-year warranty, they don't usually "go south" until year 28 or 29, which is unimaginable. Still, the price for refurbishment sounded extremely reasonable, and I'll likely send them in.
I was thinking that, since the "crackling" problem disappeared after I inverted the polarity on my preamp, that the problem lies somewhere in the preamp. Aside from moving about 11 times in the last 23 years, my gear has almost never been turned off.