Popping sound when turning on tape deck

[icravcarver]

Okay, I give up    I went ahead and pulled my main system apart to give it a revamped look, and to tear it down and clean it up.  (I try to keep on top of the dust and such, but it was time to give a thorough douching!!  I reset it up, and notice I was experiencing drop off on the left channel occasionally, and if I were to just put a finger on my preamp - it would come back without hesitation.  Long story short, the RCA cover on my Main 1 inputs on the C-16 had come loose, to the point I pretty much could pull it off with my fingers.  So -- I took preamp out of line up tonight and removed the cover.  Put the RCA covers on so they won't come off again (just had to open the prongs on the RCA sleeve a little bit and give them a good push onto the jack.  They are solid now.  I notice that my CD RCA had a issue, so I resolved that.  Put everything back together, and proceeded to make sure all is hooked up okay.  Now, when I turn on my tape deck, I get a loud pop through my speakers.  This occurs all the time, whether the RCA's are plugged into the C-16 and even when I have the tape deck plugged directly into the wall, bypassing my Powervar unit.  (I know - sacralidge!!)  Anyway, is this possible a grounding issue (I am leaning this way), but not sure what changed and why??  Any thoughts and ideas to islolate the issue would be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Neil

[ataudio]

Did this just start?  Sounds like your tape deck power supply is throwing spikes out on you line.

Try putting a suppression cap across the power switch.  This worked on an old JBL amp I had.  You could try to " reverse " the power cord too...old  trick from years past.  If the power cord prongs are polarized you can try a "cheater plug".  I doubt this is your issue tho.
 
And try not to power on any other component once your power amp is turned on.  Not all gear has graceful, soft start , power on/off
characteristics

[icravcarver]

Yes, it just started.  I'll see if I can reverse the plug, but not sure why it started.  I haven't tried to hook it up through Tape 2 inputs/outputs, to rule out something going on with the Tape 1 ins and outs.  May start there, but I do believe it has something to do with ground or power switch.  Specifically since it did it when I had no RCA's connected at all.  Not sure why it started.  All I know it I reset the outer RCA sleeves on the MAIN 1 output and now I have this issue.  None of the other components do this, i.e. tuner, cd player. The other option is to plug it into a different circuit completely and see if that makes a difference.  All I know is preamp output sounds really good now that I reset the RCA jacks.   

[MacGeek]

If there were no RCAs connected, is it popping through the speakers?

[schwarcw]

My guess is that it's in the Carter gear.  Pre-amp or amplifier.  There should be a "soft start" circuit in the amp. 

[icravcarver]

If there were no RCAs connected, is it popping through the speakers?

Yes, it popped through the speakers without any RCA's connected.  That is why I am thinking it is something with the amp or preamp.  Or a grounding issue.