Hissing speakers, HELP

[Malev]

I have Klipsch RF-5 mains, RC-7 center, and RS-3 surrounds and i'm pairing them with a Sony DA4ES. Great combination..at lower volumes. At higher volumes there is this insanely loud hiss that is UNBEARABLE. Its not a buzz, it IS a hiss, it sounds like air seeping out. It seems to be coming from the horns about 4 times as loud as from the woofers also.

When the receiver is turned all the way up with NO source on (or even connnected) it sounds like its raining, LOUD. I was planning on watching movies at around -30 to -20 on the Receiver, which imho is pretty damn loud and pleasing to my ears, but it is IMPOSSIBLE because of this hiss. Can someone help me PLEASE get rid of this..I have tried unhooking everything one by one, and as of now I only have my dvd player and receiver hooked up via optical.

I posted this once before and got directed to some stupid post about how Klipsch speakers are so efficient that they hiss at insanely annoying levels, which i was almost insulted by

-Mark

[lynnm]

Quote:

"posted this once before and got directed to some stupid post about how Klipsch speakers are so efficient that they hiss at insanely annoying levels, which i was almost insulted by"

Malev

Speakers - Klipsch or otherwise do not/cannot hiss ! Speakers can only play reproduce with varying degrees of accuracy the signal fed to them. Amplifiers,CD players etc. can and do hiss.

The hiss component will vary from almost undetectable even at the highest volumes to clearly audible at minimal volume settings depending usually upon the amplifier and/or the components attached to it.

Klipsch speakers are more revealing of deficits in amplifiers etc. than most partly because of their high efficiency which results in noise that would otherwise be below the threshold of hearing becoming audible. When Klipsch speakers are connected to a quiet amp they are quiet. If those same speakers are connected to a noisy amp you will hear the noise. As we old 'puter freaks say GIGO.

I suggest you try your speakers with a different amp.

P.S. A little more curteousy in your responses to others will go a long way.

[BBB]

Lets approach the problem logically. Im a firm believer in the saying Where theres smoke theres a Sony Just kidding. Now to be serious . Unplug everything from the receiver. The antenna wire. The whole works .I can hear you now I did that. Well do it again. Now the only wire that you have hanging from the back of the receiver is the power cord that is NOT plugged into the outlet . Reconnect all your Klipsch speakers one by one. Do NOT hook up the subwoofers.

Do NOT have a sub out cable hooked up. Eliminate that factor. After you have checked your fronts, center and surrounds connections plug the receiver into your outlet. Turn on the receivers power and select a source like cd or dvd. See if you have the hum. If you do THEN toggle through all of your sources and see if one has a hum and others dont. If the hum persists find the longest extension cord you can and plug the receiver in other outlets in your home. If the hum is still there but its volume varies from outlet to outlet try getting a ground lift or cheater plug. Its a 3 prong to 2 prong adapter and use it on your Sonys power cord. If the hum disappears BEFORE changing outlets then try hooking up your subs. If the hum returns try the cheater on the subwoofers amp and replace your cabling to them. If you kill the hum start hooking up your outboard equipment one unit at a time.

The bottom line is those Klipschs you have should not be introducing a hum as loud as you have described.

If all you have is the speakers hooked up to the receiver and have that much noise it may be the amps or the 2 processors in the DA-4ES giving you the problem. I would return it to where you purchased it and if you take no for an answer from the dealer then you will never solve the problem. Some of these electronics outfits have a The customer is always wrong once the bill is paid. attitude no matter how good the reputation of the equipment youve purchased has. I have a few thousand watts of juice being pumped through my Klipsch RF-7s and only experience the very slightest hum when my receiver is full up WITHOUT sending a signal to them. Good Luck. PS: Insults can be provided for a small fee.

[Ray Garrison]

Ummm, he said "hiss", not "humm"...

Anywho. When you get a hiss like this, my experience is that there are three likely culprits.

1) The receiver is defective. Probably the least likely, but shouldn't be ruled out. Will the store where you bought it let you swap it out for another DA4ES, even a store demo or something, so you can find out if another sample of the receiver does the same thing as your sample?

2) There is an input sensitivity / gain / volume setting mismatch. I am not familiar with the Sony DA4ES, so I don't know if this is a possibility with this unit, but in some receivers or processors you can adjust the gain setting on various inputs. This allows you to set things so that when you switch inputs, the volume doesn't change. For example, let's say you have a satellite TV box and a DVD player hooked up. If the signal level output by the DVD player is way higher than the signal output by the satellite box, when you switched inputs from the satellite to the TV you'd have reduce the volume level, or conversly when going from the DVD player to the satellite you'd have to increase the volume. If you adjust the gain on those two inputs so that the gain on the satellite is much higher than the gain on the DVD, you can switch between them without the volume level changing. However, if you misadjust this, and you set the gain on one of the inputs too low, you can induce the hissing you're talking about. What happens is you reduce the signal strength coming into the receiver to a very low level, then have to amplify that signal within the receiver much more dramatically than you would if the gain were not set so low. The amount of noise you introduce in the receiver is directly proportional to the amount you amplify the signal. Carried to the extreme, you can set the gain so low and amplify the signal so much that you get more NOISE than SIGNAL.

Having said all that, if the Sony does not offer adjustable input gain (or input level setting or whatever they called it) then ignore all of the above.

3) DSP effects. If you are using one of the synthesized soundfield settings, these can intoduce SIGNIFICANT levels of noise and hash. Try setting the processor to the "all I want is basic two channel stereo with no damn surround sound or signal processing of any sort whatsoever" setting, and see if you still get the hiss. If you do not, then you've either got the surround levels misadjusted, or the surround effects cranked way too high, or the Sony does a lousey job with DSP.

If none of the above is your problem, post again and we'll keep trying....

Ray

[DrPyro]

I'll add one more to Ray's list...

4.) The amps in receivers are not that quiet and will often create the hiss you observed when you turn your volume knob up when nothing is attached (no sources, no subs, no surrounds) except your main speakers.

I have the same problem with my Denon 3801. If i select the "Direct" aka No DSP, the noise is substantionally lower then if I select "Matrix" or any DSP mode. I bet the combo is two fold, DSP noise plus noisey amps. With my system I rarely take it above -20 due to this hiss (which i'm very sensitive too) but I'm also listening to CDs which were mastered from tapes made in the 50s (which have quite a bit of background noise). As a result of all of this, I only listen to the classical CDs in "Direct Mode" at somewhat lower volumes.

-Dave

[zandern]

I'm not as intelligent as the others on this page but I have 2 suggestions. First is to maybe get a line conditioner like a Monster HTS 2600. I have heard from some that it can eliminate sub Humms and other unwanted noises, so it may work with you. See if you can buy one from a local store with the ability to return it if it doesn't solve your problem.

Next like others said it could be the Sony. My brothers Onkyo once started to humm (Not Hiss, but both are unwanted)and he couldn't find the source of the problem. His was under warranty yet so he took it in cause it kept getting worse. Here the mother board was bad, they replaced it for free and no problems since. Its not real likely, but even with any company they do make a few defective ones.

[zandern]

I forgot to mention that if there is some major power lines going near your place that it can sometimes make noises and the Monster HTS 2600 or any other model should take care of it.

[Malev]

Well, i turned treble gain all the way down when in DSP modes and that cut it in HALF, but the hissing still IS loud, alot louder than id prefer, but i think i can live with it..

sigh

I'll call my dealer later on and see what he has to say about it.

[BBB]

Malev,did you post this question on the AVS forum today ? Because someone by the name of steel asked the exact same thing there who has the same speakers.

[Malev]

yeah thats me

[DrWho]

dude, don't settle with the hiss. it can be fixed, you just have to do some troubleshooting. i really suggest you try the ground lift. you've spent all that money on awesome speakers, u don't deserve to suffer a hiss

oh btw, turnin down the high end makes sense that it reduces the hiss, but at the same time u are turning down all of ur high end...i can't picture it sounding that good?

anyways, good luck yo!

[Jim Cornell]

Its the pre amp section of the Sony, i had one, it made every niose possible, and it also at the same time had plenty of power to boot, I mean i have tubes here, but temparailly using the pioneer SX 950 untill i can get better, i have a very small hiss!

So maybe finding a nicer reciever would be the answer for ya!

Regards Jim

PS i had the STRDE 825

[Vladi]

I have Sony STR-DA5ES, a noticable hiss is heard only above -18dB.

The max I have listened it is -32dB, and it was so loud it hurt.

My usual listening volume is below -50dB, neigbours start banging on walls at -40dB

So I don't even worry about hiss at higher volumes, but that's me.

[Malev]

On my DA4ES the hiss becomes evident at around -30db, and in their own DSP modes (cinema studio a, b, and c, which sound VERY nice imo) almost DOUBLES the hiss. I guess the only solution is to go with a different receiver, which is the last thing i want to do because i absolutely love this receiver..

sigh

[Big Ben]

It's the Sony for sure. I had two 555ES receivers and the hiss drove me nuts. So I went searching for another brand. Took my centre channel RC7 down to a place that carried Marantz, connected it to an SR19-EX and guess what NO HISS AT ALL!!!!!!. Tried it on the Sony and lots of hiss.

I demoed the Marantz and bought it.

I had several other issues with the Sony but thats another story.

The Marantz is built like a tank and the sound is as good as some high end seperates.

Ben

[boa12]

just a note though that hiss & noise on higher end equipment could mean that they use no mute circuits or noise reduction in order to keep the circuitry more discrete.

f.e., i get hiss at high volume when nothing is playing & stick my ear up by the speaker, & when i switching i get a slight pop. but when something's playing, the sound is crystal & excellent.

iow, what's important is how the component sounds when you have material playing, no?

[Malev]

That's just it boa12, when i have material playing the hiss is still very loud to me. If i'm watching a movie and there is just dialogue, all i'll here is this loud, constant hiss.

Anyway, i called my dealer and you know what that prick told me? He told me my problem was the speakers, and said that they werent meant to be played at really high volumes. I did not buy the speakers from him, and i have a feeling that is the reason he is telling me this, but come on, Klipsch speakers arent meant to be played at high volumes? Who the **** is this guy kidding? I may be 17 but i'm not a moron.

I was *extremely* insulted by this and he told me that i can bring the receiver in to check it out. Also another problem recently came up, one of the component inputs displays a greyish green picture...

sigh, nothing is going right with my new equipment.

[lynnm]

The dealer's claim that Klipsch speakers are not meant to be played at high volume is utter nonsense. In fact one of the complaints some people have about the Klipsch line is that they sound too loud. In those cases what is happening is that they are hearing detail that they are not accustomed to hearing.

The down side of the Klipsch experience is that many people, ( including me ) , find that the Klipsch's are mercilessly revealing and wind up having to upgrade their equipment. That said you will find that your speakers will bring out the best in your equipment as you upgrade.

Sometimes audio gets to be a frustrating and expensive hobby. If in the end you decide to upgrade I would suggest that you make any purchase conditional on a home trial so that you can determine how that equipment is going to sound in your home and with your speakers. The upside is that the speakers you have can be the basis of an astonishingly good sound system. Change the unsatisfactory component(s) not your Klipsch's.

[Vladi]

Malev,

If you have an option to return the STR-DA4ES, do it. If you are hooked up on Sony, try the 5ES, I have it and the hiss is so minimal.

I looked at Sony's this year models, the 4ES and the 7ES, they are worse than last years 3ES and 5ES.

[boa12]

"That's just it boa12, when i have material playing the hiss is still very loud to me. If i'm watching a movie and there is just dialogue, all i'll here is this loud, constant hiss."

yeah it can be a delicate balance between discrete circuits & noise, but that sounds extreme. like said, if you like the speaks & have the option, get something else w/ quality sound & less noisy.