Hiss List (S&R)

[respice finem]

No such speakers exist, as was pointed out above. They all hiss to a greater or lesser extent. This thread is to quantify that hiss. Your Presonus and Yamahas just hiss at a level low enough that you can't distinguish it from background noise. Any others with hiss at or below that level should sound similarly hiss-free to you.

My JBL 308 Mk2 sometimes don't hiss at all - but only when they're on standby

 

[Alchemist_]

The JBL 308 has the most insane hiss I've heard in a store.

Of course, if you unplug them from the power outlet, the noise disappears completely.

But what if there are pauses in songs and between songs, when one instrument is playing quieter than the others...

 

[respice finem]

At 2 m distance, it's barely noticeable (by me), even in my relatively quiet suburban house. In winter I can't hear them hissing most of the time, because the water flowing through the heating radiators is louder. At 1-1,5 m it would certainly become annoying though. JBL could really do something about it, OTOH maybe they didn't want to "cannibalize" their more expensive product lines?

 

[Alchemist_]

Of course, you can say it's inaudible, so others will buy it... so the manufacturer doesn't go broke.

But I compared the hiss of 5 or 6 different monitors in the store, and the JBLs were the hissiest.
Why buy the hissiest monitors, I don't know.

 

[Thomas Lund]

With active monitors, make sure to adjust their sensitivity to match the output capability of the upstream device. If the monitor is too sensitive, it will cause extra hiss. The factory default setting may well be too sensitive.

In case monitors have digital input and/or integrated gain control (“volume”), both those options generally also help reducing noise.

 

[respice finem]

In my 308, the hiss stays the same regardless of position of the "volume" knob.

 

[respice finem]

Of course, you can say it's inaudible, so others will buy it... so the manufacturer doesn't go broke.

But I compared the hiss of 5 or 6 different monitors in the store, and the JBLs were the hissiest.
Why buy the hissiest monitors, I don't know.

Are you saying I'm lying to advertise for JBL? Nobody said you should or should not buy anything.
I can live with it, that's all. And yes, I know there are less hissy ones, like my Neumann, but I don't need this price class for TV sound etc.
Horses for courses.

 

[Alchemist_]

With active monitors, make sure to adjust their sensitivity to match the output capability of the upstream device. If the monitor is too sensitive, it will cause extra hiss. The factory default setting may well be too sensitive.

In case monitors have digital input and/or integrated gain control (“volume”), both those options generally also help reducing noise.

The hiss is created by the amplifier inside the monitor.
The sensitivity control is located before the amplifier.
It's not the volume control, which is placed after the amplifier.
Therefore, in almost all monitors, the hiss either doesn't change or barely changes with sensitivity adjustments.

 

[Alchemist_]

Are you saying I'm lying to advertise for JBL? Nobody said you should or should not buy anything.
I can live with it, that's all. And yes, I know there are less hissy ones, like my Neumann, but I don't need this price class for TV sound etc.
Horses for courses.

I didn't mean to offend you. You're just so stubbornly defending JBL.
I like their sound, but I can't buy them because of the hiss.

 

[respice finem]

You're just so stubbornly defending JBL.

Am I? Where?

 

[Alchemist_]

Am I? Where?

Sorry, I misunderstood you.

 

[Thomas Lund]

The sensitivity control is located before the amplifier.
It's not the volume control, which is placed after the amplifier.

Some active monitors have analog gain range (sensitivity) as well as "volume" control. Late gain control not only administers noise, it also limits the risk of generating hearing loss when a 0 dBFS+ track is patched to the system.