Reducing Background Noise On Records

Try a better shielded phono cable as well as a sheilded power cord for your preamp. Blth should cut out noise.

scm

islandmandan and terry9 have it right.

 If you have a TT you`ll eventually/inevitably end up with an US cleaner

I don't know if it's inevitable, but I agree that the best path to good LP sound includes an ultrasonic cleaner. No amount of GroovGlide or other goop can substitute for the results you can get from a truly clean record. 

Your records are not noisy because of how they were recorded, unless there is something very unusual about these specific records. 

I agree. Can you provide more info about your record collection? Are you playing used store-bought vinyl, new vinyl, or records that you played on a previous system?

I started buying LP's in the 70s using a middle of the road Dual TT and Shure cart and I they still sound pretty good to me with my upgraded system. I took very good of my vinyl and very few records have noise problems recorded-in from the manufacturer.

Noise and limited dynamic range (and a few other issues) are inherent to the vinyl medium.

This statement is inaccurate.

LPs generally are mastered with less compression than CDs, for the simple reason that there is no expectation that an LP might be played in a car. This applies to non-CD digital tracks as well.

LPs only have limited dynamic range if the label or engineer is being lazy because sometimes it takes some engineering time to sort out how to do a cut properly without compression. Its not inherent in the medium any more than Redbook; although the noise floor is considerably more variable in practice.

(FWIW I run an LP mastering operation. Our equipment is fairly stock, Scully lathe with Westerex 3d cutterhead and 1700 electronics. Typically lathe cuts are so quiet that the playback electronics are the noise floor.)

I am very used to playing LPs without a tick or pop on the entire side. When people listen to my system they often ask me if I'm actually playing digital while appearing to play LPs since there are no ticks or pops.

Here's a tip on ticks and pops: a lot has to do with stability (how likely an oscillation might occur) in the phono preamp. If the preamp is unstable, a tick or pop that would be inaudible because of its short duration or amplitude can become exacerbated by the phono preamp by oscillating briefly.

The design issue best I can make out seems to have a lot to do with stopping resistors in the circuit since it has nothing to do with feedback or EQ technique (IOW, preamps that employ active EQ can be just as stable as a preamp using passive EQ). Most inexpensive Japanese designs I've seen don't employ stopping resistors anywhere in their designs and most of them are unstable.

A stopping resistor is a series resistance at the input of a transistor or tube and is there to prevent oscillation.  They interact with the input capacitance of the active device to create a low pass filter (usually at ultrasonic or radio frequencies). For this reason they can also make the circuit slightly lower noise.

So we have an entire generation of audiophiles that grew up thinking ticks and pops and noise are inherent in LP reproduction.

One other thing: if the phono preamp is unstable and is otherwise able to work with low output moving coil cartridges, it will be seen that loading of the cartridge is critical to obtain the best sound. This is because LOMC cartridges can inject RF noise into the preamp- imagine what that can do if the preamp is already an unstable design!

It is this fact that has given rise to the idea that LOMC cartridges need to be loaded for best response. They do not- the loading is only needed if the preamp is unstable.

On the off chance nobody mentioned it already what ever happened to playing records wet?