Static pops...again!

[colinB]

settled down to a listening session this afternoon only to find my static pops are back with a vengence. I have no cleaning fluid for my RCM or any anti stat inner sleeves left so cant do a cleaning session.
One thing , every record has popped so far ( cant be good for the amp! )
and the room is very warm, the heating has been on all morning , left on for far to long. Maybe a humidifier is worth a try.

[YNWaN]

The central heating is indeed likely to be the cause of increased static; a bowl of water, or a few plants, are both good for raising the moisture content of the air. However, even with high levels of static you shouldn't really be getting 'pop' sounds through the hi-fi.

[colinB]

I know . Something is wrong, ive always suspected earthing problem.
Just before xmas i found taking the lps of the platter i was getting a small belt of static. It never happened when i first had the deck, it started around the time i changed the arm and introduced a valve pre amp.
I can do simple stuff with a cheap multi meter like continuity tests but i have no idea how to check for zero voltage on earth ( assuming that is the correct test)

[YNWaN]

Is you arm earthed to mains earth?

[colinB]

When i removed the technics arm it had the earth lead going to a screw on the pitch fader. I wasnt happy with that, it didnt look right and i thought it a poor connection. There is a faint buzz when i select turntable on my amp but that could be the normal buzz you hear with a valv phono?

[colinB]

Sorry, the new tonearm cable i use has two earth wires so one goes to the pitch fader and the other on the phono stage

[Magna Audio]

Could you get a Zerostat gun? I find mine keeps dust away and never have pops or static loaded discs even after playing.

I was wondering about earthing too. Earth the tone arm base as well as phonostage and star them all to a good known earth. You might have to experiment with adding and removing to cut out hum.
Also try a strip of ali foil wrapped over the mat so that it contacts the what I assume is ali platter and the record is placed on it. Worth trying...

[YNWaN]

I don't know how the earths on the Technics are configured; however, the turntables I have worked on have all had their arms and platters earthed to mains and have not suffered from static discharge.

I've only had one valve phonostage in my system but it didn't produce any 'buzz' at all. I would experiment a bit with your arm and platter earthing if I were you.

Sometimes, if I clean a record on my deck, I will find it has quite a lot of static on it when I remove it after playing - even then I still don't get static discharge sounds through the system though!

[colinB]

There is a earth point that the DIYers have illustrated on the lower pcb board that has 0v ground and is the one recommended for the external PSUs.
If i can thread the earth lead through there i will try it.
Thanks

[MCRU]

I get popping as well, hate to say it but do you want me to loan you a Furutech brush and see if that solves it?

Tried it on a few cd's the other night and does work as well as Marco said.