What do defective phono tubes sound like?

Atmosphere,I had noticed my pre giving me some noise,"now" when playing CD's Friday night.The vol control started sounding "whoosh/static like" sounding,as I moved the nob(even a little).
Then,as I stopped CD play,and just moved the vol control to hear what the story was,it (the pre)gave a pop,and I could not get anymore output!!
I simply decided to wait a few days,so as to not get upset,as I've been experiencing too many hassles.
Could the table/arm "ground problem"(if it actually was the arm ground,and not the pre all along) have caused the pre to die on me?...."Oye vey",is this getting annoying!!

Thanks

Sirspeedy, I would be suspicious that the CD player is making either RF, DC or both. I'd pull it out of the system altogether, as if it is RF, well, that stuff can get in everywhere!

Given what you have told me its *not* the tone arm that did that.

Alternatively, your preamp could have been giving you fits all along, with the symptom masquerading as something else. First thing I would do would be to run the system with no digital at all and see if it works. If yes, let it play and see if it still pops. If not, then you need to see if the amps/speakers are OK. If they are, then you need to talk to the manufacturer about the preamp.

Atmosphere,as always great input from you.Some day I'll introduce myself to you,at a trade show.The nice glass of wine will be on me. -:)
Best

I mounted a new phono cartridge last week. It is a MC with about 0.3mV output. I am using an ARC pre-amp with 100 ohm loading. I suddenly developed an occasional popping noise like a static discharge. (Consistently in the left channel). My room is at 83% RH so humidity shouldn't have been a factor. This afternoon, looking around for related threads I found this one. This thread got me looking at all connections and I noticed that the insulation is worn on my headshell wires. I can see bare copper on the blue wire (Left channel). These wires have silk insulation. I have had them since the early 90's. When I mounted the new cartridge I noticed the exposed conductors but didn't think much of it. The connectors are a little loose as well. Considering that I am amplifying <0.3mV that exposed copper could surely be a problem. So I ordered some new headshell wires.

I took the head shell off today and pushed the connectors on tighter onto the cartridge pins. I also manipulated the silk insulation to cover up the bare copper. I know that is just a temporary fix until I get my new wires. But it seemed to do the trick. I played one side of an album with no pops. I ran out of time today, but will try and make time to play more records tomorrow.

I'll be glad when the new headshell wires come. Hardly relaxing listening to music right now just waiting for another pop to occur.