Who Would Have Guessed This Was The Problem or Man This Stuff Is Weird Part 2 (apologies to Jud)

[fas42]

A long shot, but there could be a buildup of static because of the material used in the cables, and how the materials are reacting to what they are touching. Normally this type of behaviour has far more subtle impact on the audio, but in your case the type of gear you're using may be particularly sensitive to such factors.

 

I would do some experiments. Organise the new cables so that when connected to the components, that all along the length of the cable they don't touch each other or anything else; they are surrounded by air at all points - this may take some fiddling with how the components on sitting on their stands; but could tell you something important. If the nature of that interference noise changes, then you're on to it. Also, depending upon what you find then try securing the cable along its length in some way that it can't move, easily - a form of clamping so that it effectively becomes rigid, won't move from an idle touch.

 

 

[fas42]

What makes me suspicious is the "beset with a popping, crackling sound every ten seconds" comment - there's a cycling of the behaviour, which is classic slow charge, and then rapid discharge, of a voltage characteristic ... I have never had it so severe, but I have come across far more subtle versions of that - altering grounding arrangements is one of the possible solutions.