What do defective phono tubes sound like?


I have noticed some rather loud energy discharges when playing LP's.Sort of an abrupt popping.Not unlike static discharge.I do not get this with my digital playback.
The ONLY change made to my system lately has been a new arm.The problem began immediately "after" it's installation.It was just fine with the previous arm.

I don't want to make this an "arm" mfgr thing(and will not mention arm name)but wonder if the phono tubes in use(very NOS Siemens CCa's,with low hours)can be the culprit.

This is making me pull my hair out,and I have little already.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
sirspeedy
Sirspeedy, your description of the problem sounds like a static discharge to me. If the arm is improperly grounded it is possible for it to *not* hum, but have discharge problems, especially with low humidity. The needle tracking the LP will create the static charge and if not drained off by the grounded arm, you will get a random static 'pop', which can be quite loud once amplified by your electronics!

A hint is that this problem showed up when you changed arms. If the prior arm is available, I would swap it in and see if that sorts it out. If not, I would test the arm to see if it is really grounded correctly. BTW the turntable should be grounded to the arm too. If not, that can cause static discharge too.
Atmosphere thanks So much for the advice.

Audiofeil,you expose yourself again,as a total jerk,but I've been aware of that for some time.Thanks for the kind words anyway.

Best
Static discharge ! Thanks for your intervention, Atmasphere. I grounded the turntable to arm, separated the phonopreamp from turntable,check tonearm grounding and no more "pops". It wasn't the fridge! Are those static discharges harmful to cartridge coils or any components of the system?
Btw,getting a "new" arm and "new" arm cable...that shoud put an end to it...whew!
Best to "almost everyone"! -:)
Jloveys, the static discharge was likely not been 'seen' by the cartridge. Its often a discharge between the ungrounded arm and the turntable. So no worries!