Proper Ground for Tonearm and Turntable

Cartridges are naturally balanced devices. The tonearm is grounded to chassis ground of the turntable which is connected to chassis ground of the phono preamp. The minus terminals of the cartridge should be isolated from chassis ground or in other words chassis ground should not be connected to the negative side of the RCA cables. Having said this audiosaurusrex's symptoms are a bit unusual if the pop is not just the needle hitting the groove. As millercarbon suggests static electricity could do this and it might be worse if the turntable were not grounded. Zerostats are a serious joke as the second you put the stylus back in the groove static electricity is generated rapidly. The best way to discharge a record is by using a grounded sweep arm with conductive bristles and making sure it and your turntable are grounded correctly,

millercarbon, go to Sleeve City and get yourself a grounded sweep arm. The static you sense from pulling the record out of a sleeve was generated during the last play. Nothing like a nonconductive stylus rubbing a nonconductive groove for 20 minutes, a mini Van Der Graaf generator. You have to discharge the record while it is playing! 

Mijostyn you are very wrong on all counts. First and foremost, the tonearm requires a signal ground from the phono stage, and if you tie it to the plinth, you have just created a ground loop. Second, the phono stage needs to be grounded to the pre-amp / integrated amp. On an integrated amp, many manufacturers tie the common negative speaker leads to chassis ground. The OP was wise to consult the manufacturer on this, although the same result could probably have been achieved by grounding the phono stage chassis to a chassis screw on the preamp or integrated amp. Third, the Zerostat is a well-proven device to neutralize static buildup. A grounded sweep arm is not necessary, and in most cases it will do no good. 

@sleepwalker Yes I did not understand why there was no ground from the phonostage or table to the amp and it made sense to me that the “pop” could have been some sort of static buildup. I just did not to start willy nilly experimenting with connections from the turntable/phonostage to the amp. Krell did caution however do not do not connect ground to red/positive speaker terminals. “Explosion” lol. Either negative speaker terminal is tied to ground chassis. Just glad I resolved it. That pop was annoying!!

Sleep walker. ground has nothing to do with signal in a balanced set up. As you might notice most tonearms come with a separate ground wire not connected to the negative side of the RCA. it is like the shield on a balanced cable. Now some phono amps may have a common ground for signal and chassis. i suggest you stay away from them. Balanced outputs are the best with isolated chassis ground second. 
The Zerostat can temporarily reduce static which is regenerated as soon as the needle hits the groove. It is not my fault you have no concept of how static electricity is generated. I refer you to any high school science book. Functionally the Zerostat is stupid and a total waste of money. I am deeply sorry if you wasted your money on one. After you used your zerostat the static electricity was immediately regenerated as soon as your stylus hit the groove attracting dust smoke and god knows what else which your stylus promptly ground into the groove. Great way to ruin records. In the meanwhile Sleepwalker I suggest that you switch to digital media it is more fool proof.