Random tick sound from MacBook Pro (noticed it since updating to 10.6)

Hi,
I have the 2.4Ghz Unibody MacBook Pro 15" (Early 2009) with the removable battery.
I went through a clean install of Snow Leopard, up to date with all the updates (10.6.1). Ever since I have been hearing random ticks. At first I thought it was the hard drive. But it's too loud for the hard drive, and it sounds like its coming from the right speaker.
A break down of the possibilities:
- Hard Drive
- Left Speaker
- Bug in Snow Leopard
- Fan
What do you guys think? Anyone else experiencing this?

If you had a cloned copy of your Leopard (not Snow Leopard) disk (everyone should have a backup of their disk on an external drive) you could boot from it. This would rule in or out the OS as the culprit.
If you do ot have said copy (for shame, for shame) maybe you can boot with the install DVD and determine the same thing.
I have the mid '09 15". I can remove the belly pan and see the entire fan. Can you do this with your model to determine if the fan is making the noise? Can you install some fan control software that will allow you to speed the fan up and thus determine if the fan is the noisemaker?
Will turning the speaker audio OFF have any affect on the noise? Will putting a piece of cardboard over the speaker grill affect the noise?

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