Hiss List (S&R)

[tmtomh]

Unbalanced 2-prong power cord. Yamaha AX-1090.

Hiss can be produced (or increased) by a ground loop. (I discovered this a few months ago while addressing a 60Hz hum ground loop - probably old news to many members here, but when I successfully addressed the hum, about 80-90% of the tweeter hiss in my speakers instantly went away too - that was a pleasant surprise!).

If your cord is unbalanced, I presume it has one blade for ground, and I don't know enough about electrical outlet wiring to know if that grounds things the same way as a three-prong plug that goes into the ground receptacle in a 3-prong wall outlet. But it could be a grounding issue.

 

[lokomotiv]

Hiss can be produced (or increased) by a ground loop. (I discovered this a few months ago while addressing a 60Hz hum ground loop - probably old news to many members here, but when I successfully addressed the hum, about 80-90% of the tweeter hiss in my speakers instantly went away too - that was a pleasant surprise!).

If your cord is unbalanced, I presume it has one blade for ground, and I don't know enough about electrical outlet wiring to know if that grounds things the same way as a three-prong plug that goes into the ground receptacle in a 3-prong wall outlet. But it could be a grounding issue.

My Yamaha amp is not connected to anything at this point. I have other issue with it which is one of the reasons I wanted a new system. I have grounding in the newer outlets which is where I tried the new speakers. Even opened one up to make sure there's 3 wires connected, because I had one old outlet which technically had the grounding pins, but no earth wire connected.

Only noise issue I had with the old Yamaha amp was that if certain electrical devices were turned on they could cause a pop sound in speakers, which I've heard is common for unbalanced systems, but there were no issues with hiss unless I turned the amp all the way up, but that was never necessary. With Rokits and Adams it seems like gain staging doesn't work. If I turn them all the way up the hiss would get louder, but from a relatively high level it remains static. Even when turned all the way down.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

Always make me fun when an amplifier doesnt get recommended because of their noise but if a Gelenec speaker is noisy too, nobody cares it doesnt matter! Lmao!

 

[tmtomh]

My Yamaha amp is not connected to anything at this point. I have other issue with it which is one of the reasons I wanted a new system. I have grounding in the newer outlets which is where I tried the new speakers. Even opened one up to make sure there's 3 wires connected, because I had one old outlet which technically had the grounding pins, but no earth wire connected.

Only noise issue I had with the old Yamaha amp was that if certain electrical devices were turned on they could cause a pop sound in speakers, which I've heard is common for unbalanced systems, but there were no issues with hiss unless I turned the amp all the way up, but that was never necessary. With Rokits and Adams it seems like gain staging doesn't work. If I turn them all the way up the hiss would get louder, but from a relatively high level it remains static. Even when turned all the way down.

Understood. If you feel comfortable doing so, it might be worth temporarily - TEMPORARILY! - lifting the ground on all the devices in your chain except one, to break any potential ground loop, and listening to see if the hiss stays the same as it is now or becomes quieter. Of course, don't actually use your system that way - just turn it on long enough to see. Also, when I had my problem, I only had to have my power amp actually turned on - the upstream component that was creating the ground loop had to be plugged in, but it didn't actually need to be turned on for the hiss to manifest itself, or for the hiss to disappear when I temporarily lifted its ground.

 

[gasolin75]

not to expensive ground looop box

ART DTI

Dual Transformer / Isolater Hum Eliminator, Frequency response 10 Hz to 50 kHz, THD: 0.01%, 2 Channels, Inputs and unbalanced XLR balanced, TRS, RCA, Output as balanced XLR, jack unbalanced, RCA, Dimensions 44.5 mm x 107 mm x 89 mm, Weight 0.34 kg

www.thomann.de

 

[lokomotiv]

Understood. If you feel comfortable doing so, it might be worth temporarily - TEMPORARILY! - lifting the ground on all the devices in your chain except one, to break any potential ground loop, and listening to see if the hiss stays the same as it is now or becomes quieter. Of course, don't actually use your system that way - just turn it on long enough to see. Also, when I had my problem, I only had to have my power amp actually turned on - the upstream component that was creating the ground loop had to be plugged in, but it didn't actually need to be turned on for the hiss to manifest itself, or for the hiss to disappear when I temporarily lifted its ground.

I tried speakers with nothing else plugged in. The wire to my outlet comes straight from the electrical box to the wall outlet so there should be nothing interfering with it. Even turned off and unplugged computer and wifi in the room. Also tried it with unearthed outlets, which I still have several in my house. Heard no difference. The ground loop issues that I heard online sounded a bit different too. More whiny and fluctuating. What I get is static white noise.

 

[lokomotiv]

not to expensive ground looop box

ART DTI

Dual Transformer / Isolater Hum Eliminator, Frequency response 10 Hz to 50 kHz, THD: 0.01%, 2 Channels, Inputs and unbalanced XLR balanced, TRS, RCA, Output as balanced XLR, jack unbalanced, RCA, Dimensions 44.5 mm x 107 mm x 89 mm, Weight 0.34 kg

www.thomann.de

I think that only helps when the noise is coming from the audio source, like computer or interface? In my case the hiss remains the same whether XLR is connected or not.

 

[gasolin75]

amp different outlet

 

[gasolin75]

Mackie MR524 | Studio Monitor | Measurements & Subjective Impressions

EDIT 13/12/21: Updated with full spin and other fun things. I recently purchased a pair of Mackie MR524s and thought it might be helpful to capture a set of essential measurements. To my knowledge, none are currently available. The MR524 is sold individually for approximately €100, which...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[dasdoing]

Can easily hear it during podcasts or quiet parts of music.

just to be sure, this is at your listening position?

 

[lokomotiv]

just to be sure, this is at your listening position?

Yes, which is about 1 meter away. With nothing playing, but computer on, I can hear the hiss easily up to 2 meters. At 3 meters it's hard to tell if it's the speaker hiss or my tinnitus. When computer off, it's even audible at 3 meters. With the previous system I could hear slight hiss at 1 meter if I concentrated on it, but otherwise didn't notice it at all. That's kind of what I'd expect from budget near field monitors. Pretty low bar I think, considering that even cheaper consumer systems seem to do a better job. It's not like the amps are even that powerful. And if they are, I should be able to turn them down which should lower the hiss like with my old amp. That doesn't happen with Rokits and Adams.

 

[dasdoing]

When computer off, it's even audible at 3 meters

there must be something else happening. Amir wouldn't recomend a speaker that has audible hiss at 3m

 

[lokomotiv]

there must be something else happening. Amir wouldn't recomend a speaker that has audible hiss at 3m

According to the hiss list posted on the forum, T7Vs have a 0dBA SPL at 3.2 meters. Very much at the bottom end of the list. Interestingly enough T8Vs are quite a bit better. I wonder if there's variation in the components used and some people end up with worse products. Or my house is cursed and regular consumer speakers work fine, but somehow studio monitors all hiss. That seems unlikely though. With Rokits the hiss really was so bad that the products were probably faulty. Haven't heard back from Thomann yet. With Adams I could work with them if I put them on the other side of the room, but that's not an option.

 

[monkeyboy]

Does it hiss with nothing connected to it and the gain maxed?

 

[dasdoing]

as an electrical layman I wonder if one could half the voltage of the monitors? that would lose 6dB of gain, while bringing the hiss down?

 

[usern]

there must be something else happening. Amir wouldn't recomend a speaker that has audible hiss at 3m

Amir does not measure self noise and probably has different tolerance to the self noise (hiss) and probably has higher environment noise floor, etc.

According to hiss list T7V has pretty loud self noise. Nothing will help about it but return it or sell it and get quieter ones or passive speakers with small desktop amp. There is plenty good and cheapish amps these days.

Does it hiss with nothing connected to it and the gain maxed?

Active monitors always have output gain close to max. You can fine tune it on some models, but it only can do so much.

 

[monkeyboy]

Hiss can come from your gain structure, I have several active monitors, the monitor gains are not maxed.

 

[usern]

Or my house is cursed and regular consumer speakers work fine, but somehow studio monitors all hiss.

Your house is not cursed. There is few studio monitors that have tolerable self noise (hiss) for me. I went through 2 pairs (Presonus R65, Genelec 8030C) before settling with Neumann KH80 DSP. Can still hear them when PC is shut down, but in normal use they are good. People have also different tolerances and noise environments and reviews do not want to talk about negatives that much so this issue does not get much exposure outside these kinds of forum threads.

 

[dasdoing]

I am shocked that many of you guys seam to have noisy PCs. that is way more anoying than a little hiss lol

 

[lokomotiv]

Does it hiss with nothing connected to it and the gain maxed?

Both Rokit 7 G4 and T7V hissed with nothing connected and gain staging makes little difference. Even when turned all the way down both hissed. At some point (close to the max already) it starts getting louder, but I tried to keep them lower to be more tolerable.

I am shocked that many of you guys seam to have noisy PCs. that is way more anoying than a little hiss lol

The speaker hiss is more piercing than computer hum. The speaker hiss causes me actual ear discomfort. Computer can also be moved and hidden away if it becomes an issue. Can't hide your speakers if you want to use them.