I remember my room mate and I had all kinds of processing boxes in the late 70's early 80's for dealing with vinyl pops/ticks/dynamic range. I also remember replacing the tweeter in one of my ADS speakers twice (not enough power).

The most important element in appreciating vinyl is impending middle age (or beyond). When I get my vinyl out it sounds really good on my 1979 Technics turntable with the 25 year old MicroAcoustics 2002e cartridge. Let's see, 2000 circa electronics and speakers, same turntable/ cartridge/ vinyl. Fewer (objectionable) tic and pop. Maybe the vinyl annealed in the attic. Or could it be I don't hear so well anymore?