On the subject of the SAE 5000 Tick and Pop machine...

I vividly remember this unit as my brother had one back in the late 70's / early 80's. I also vividly remember how simple yet effective it was when used judiciously. The operation is precisely as Jeff described and yes, is very effective (and VERY easy to use). If I'm not mistaken it was meant to be placed into a tape monitor loop (remember those?) and may have even provided a supplemental tape monitor loop of its own to preserve the tape monitor connection taken up by the SAE itself on a preamp / receiver). However...I can't imagine why (from memory) why this couldn't be placed downstream of a phono section and upstream of the analog inputs on the 950.

Granted...you could remove a lot of pops by editing a WAV file (carefully) provided you have the software, the patience, and in many cases, the right amount of alcohol in you...but you first have to create the file, open it, edit it...lots of zooming on the file and so on. Again...100% do-able but sometimes painstaking. I am SURE that tick and pop removal algorithms exist that either supplement or supplant the manual editing process (in the software apps out there) and I cannot (and therefore will not) speak to their efficacy. It's also reasonable to think that these algorithms are subject (as is the SAE 5000) to the user's understanding of what's going on and understanding that sometimes, too much signal processing is just that - too much. Sometimes...simple is a very good thing indeed.

Anyway....for on-the-fly tick and pop noise reduction this thing's pretty slick indeed.
Hmmm...maybe it's time to haul MY vinyl up from the basement and seek out an SAE 5000 for myself. I don't know if it was Jeff who said you can find 'em on ebay, but he's right, and they usually are quite reasonably priced (i.e. $50 to $110).