Studio monitor speakers without hiss?

[Alchemist_]

The store says the hiss level depends on the volume knob. JBL MK2 306

 

[gasolin75]

New owner of a pair of Mackie MR524 with A/B amps, i can comfirm that they have no hiss

Update there is hiss, i didn't notice any the first time a few inches,cm from the speakers but it's so low you will never notice it unless your ear is 10cm from the speaker, as soon as there is music you can't hear it at all

Im no using my rotel amp with preout instead of my nad 1000

 

[stevenswall]

The store says the hiss level depends on the volume knob. JBL MK2 306

Everyone says that. On the IN-5 you can get the hiss even lower by lowering the volume knob from the middle a little bit, but it's already really low. On the JBL even with a lowered volume and having the source gain as high as possible, there is hiss. Also disconnected from a source there is hiss. Same with the older Kali monitors. Turning down the knob on the JBL 3 series or old Kali monitors doesn't work to reduce the hiss enough and still have enough reasonable volume, because for most to get rid of the hiss you have to turn it almost all the way down.

 

[Bullwinkle J Moose]

Everyone says that. On the IN-5 you can get the hiss even lower by lowering the volume knob from the middle a little bit, but it's already really low. On the JBL even with a lowered volume and having the source gain as high as possible, there is hiss. Also disconnected from a source there is hiss. Same with the older Kali monitors. Turning down the knob on the JBL 3 series or old Kali monitors doesn't work to reduce the hiss enough and still have enough reasonable volume, because for most to get rid of the hiss you have to turn it almost all the way down.

Yes, everyone says the hiss level depends on the volume knob. (JBL MK2 306) probably because it is true

A quieter room will not give me the results that you are claiming

There is no audible hiss on my 1st gen LSR-305's at 50% gain and the hiss DOES increase with gain setting and is only audible near maximum gain

Turning down the knob on the JBL 3 series monitors "DOES" work to reduce the hiss enough and still have enough reasonable volume

If your pair is defective, that does not mean that my pair is defective

If you wish to continue this nonsense, then first tell me how you eliminated ground loop issues as a possible cause

Barring any Ground Loop issues, dirty power supplies can cause the issue you are having as can USB cables that are inferior or too long

Are you connected to a computer with a BangPowZoom power supply that has a Lead, Plutonium or Toxic Waste Power Rating?

Try a Corsair, EVGA or Seasonic with any rating above Bronze

Mine are ALL rated Bronze and do not produce the issue you are describing

A BangPowZoom power supply with a Toxic Waste Rating "DOES" however reproduce the exact issue you are having

 

[stevenswall]

Yes, everyone says the hiss level depends on the volume knob. (JBL MK2 306) probably because it is true

A quieter room will not give me the results that you are claiming

There is no audible hiss on my 1st gen LSR-305's at 50% gain and the hiss DOES increase with gain setting and is only audible near maximum gain

Turning down the knob on the JBL 3 series monitors "DOES" work to reduce the hiss enough and still have enough reasonable volume

If your pair is defective, that does not mean that my pair is defective

Sure, you can increase it with the volume knob. My goal is to reduce it, which doesn't work on the Gen2, and many tell me the Gen2 doesn't hiss and to change the gain, try ungrounding it, short an RCA input, unplug the inputs, etc. It still hisses, but maybe you're right and the Gen1 doesn't hiss. I'm skeptical because when people tell me they can't hear hiss, I usually can, and a quieter room makes it even more noticeable.

My pair, and all the pairs I've heard, certainly aren't all defective, and if they are, then a 100% defect rate out of 6 speakers means they shouldn't be purchased.

If you can, try holding up your phone to the speaker and seeing how much hiss there is. Here's a video I made on the matter,

Many people claim they can't hear hiss they are right next to the speaker. I could hear half of these from the listening position, and probably would have noticed even more in my room at home which is even more quiet.

 

[Alchemist_]

An update of the R series was posted on the Presonus website.
She now has an amplifier in the AB class. The same as the ERIS XT. And he hisses less than others, you can say he doesn't hiss at all.

PS Listened to the visible users.
Also, KALI seems to have started producing non-noisy monitors (but I personally have not heard KALI)

 

[wildgooselake]

Very nice and useful thread! Thank you to everyone who posted.

Have been experiencing the same issue with my pair of Focal Alpha 50's. The hiss on them is very strong, as the video that was posted here several times shows. They also have no input gain control, so the level of hiss is constant. They are on my desk, ~80cm away in listening position, it's not only audible, but louder than some quieter musical elements at a lower listening levels (which are healthy and useful when mixing for long).

The hiss is the roughly same loudness as the LSR 305 (1st generation) that I used to have before, but different in spectrum. Overall the Focals sound way better than the LSRs, but hiss is unacceptably high, stresses me out after long listening/mixing sessions. Seems like they're only useful in 2m+ listening distance, almost mid-field.

Having spent a couple days researching the topic, I decided to get the new Kali IN-5 three-way monitors. Kali specifically mention that they're low self-noise, and considerably better (they claim 12dB) than the first generation of Kali IN-8. The same low-noise amplification is now used in their new "2nd wave" version of the Kali IN-8.

Main reasons for me were: front-ported design, manageable price (600 euro for pair), and really good measurements.

There are full Klippel measurements done by Erin's audio corner here: https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/kali_in-5/. I'm sure people on this forum are well familiar with them.

I have not received them yet, but will come back with an update.

 

[wildgooselake]

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/hiss-list-s-r.18050/View attachment 130427

This graph makes sense to compare brands in-general, but in terms of making a choice properly, it's quite useless.

Same brand can have very high-hiss and low-hiss models of course (i.e. Yamaha MSP series vs HS series).

As a tip, if you use same spreadsheet, select the column, and select "sort a-z", you can sort the actual speaker models from lowest noise to highest.

Having said that, some of these measurements seem a bit questionable to me tbh.

 

[pozz]

This graph makes sense to compare brands in-general, but in terms of making a choice properly, it's quite useless.

Same brand can have very high-hiss and low-hiss models of course (i.e. Yamaha MSP series vs HS series).

As a tip, if you use same spreadsheet, select the column, and select "sort a-z", you can sort the actual speaker models from lowest noise to highest.

View attachment 167350

Having said that, some of these measurements seem a bit questionable to me tbh.

By a proper choice, do you mean that there are only a few models listed?

Can you explain what you mean by the measurements being questionable?

 

[wildgooselake]

Mine hiss even without any input.

Can confirm. Have had two pairs of LSR 305's at different times, there is audible hiss at 1m distance in a quiet room, with no input signal and low gain.

Some people might not hear it due to age, or listening 5m away, or something else, but the self noise from the integrated amp is definitely there, and quite loud.

 

[wildgooselake]

By a proper choice, do you mean that there are only a few models listed?

Can you explain what you mean by the measurements being questionable?

I mean, the graph sorts by brand. You don't choose a brand when getting speakers, you choose a model.

In terms of questionable: some of models I have owned, which are quite different in percieved hiss louness (I made no measurements, but could definitely hear some more than others), aren't so far apart in this list, and sometimes straight up in the inverse order.

For example, Yamaha HS were hiss-free at 1m away, and Focal Alphas hiss so loud I decided to replace them just based on that (otherwise amazing speakers). In this table, hiss level for Focal Alpha 65 is lower than Yamaha HS8, which I find very hard to believe.

My experience with these two models specifically is quite well backed-up by the video posted in this thread previously, with the person in the room containing several pairs of monitors: Yamahas are almost the best (behind the $$$ K&H/Neumann speakers), and the Focals are almost the worst, despite being more expensive.

 

[anmpr1]

Can confirm. Have had two pairs of LSR 305's at different times, there is audible hiss at 1m distance in a quiet room, with no input signal and low gain.

Back in the day, the world of analog, you always got a 'hiss' filter for reasons. Looks like we've made a lot of progress over the years. Maybe what is needed is a Dolby circuit for active loudspeakers. LOL

In 2021, how a supposedly reputable loudspeaker company can offer this sort of thing, and how anyone can recommend a loudspeaker that comes with its own hiss, is something I'll not hope to understand.

 

[wildgooselake]

Back in the day, the world of analog, you always got a 'hiss' filter for reasons. Looks like we've made a lot of progress over the years. Maybe what is needed is a Dolby circuit for active loudspeakers. LOL

In 2021, how a supposedly reputable loudspeaker company can offer this sort of thing, and how anyone can recommend a loudspeaker that comes with its own hiss, is something I'll not hope to understand.


View attachment 167355

Very true. In their defense though, for their use case, the JBLs have their well earned place. They're still by far the best accurate active speakers in their price range in terms of overall sound, if you have the space to place them 2+ meters away.

That's a bit easier to recommend than a passive set, since a lot of people (myself included) prefer to avoid the hassle of finding separate matching amps, as it's an entire world of its own.

Most "studio" amps (aka balanced XLR/TRS inputs) in a low enough price range, would be something like Alesis or Samson, and they're not particularly amazing.

Of course, for recreational listening, vintage hi-fi is nearly impossible to beat, and way less hissy. Depends on location of course, but where I live, some older nice ELACs or KEFs and a good vintage NAD amp can easily be found for 200-300$ all-in-all.

Very important to note though, that's only if you don't mind some colored frequency response with unbalanced RCA, and if a you find this process of finding amps and speakers and trying them out fun.

 

[Koeitje]

Can confirm. Have had two pairs of LSR 305's at different times, there is audible hiss at 1m distance in a quiet room, with no input signal and low gain.

Some people might not hear it due to age, or listening 5m away, or something else, but the self noise from the integrated amp is definitely there, and quite loud.

Its fine for me, I use them as surrounds and with movie/gaming content playing I don't hear it anymore. But if they were on my desk and there were silent moments I would hear it for sure.

 

[anmpr1]

Very true. In their defense though, for their use case, the JBLs have their well earned place. They're still by far the best accurate active speakers in their price range in terms of overall sound,

Hear (nice play on words, eh?) is what I don't understand. The entire (or mostly entire) ASR loudspeaker thing is to determine who is doing the best of the best engineering. So in this class, the class of 2-way self-powered shoebox monitors, what do we have? Loudspeakers measured and graphed and ranked (or at least judged) based upon how well they fit an 'ideal' wave propagation' schematic. Then, based on that, can be recommended or not, depending upon how they match these ideal graphs..., but with the little caveat, "Just don't sit too close to them because they make their own sound, and that might annoy you at softer SPL, unless you can train yourself to psychologically ignore it, or are too old to hear the defect!"

Recall the 1977 Dick Calderhead cartoon. If drawn today it could be titled: The more things change...

 

[mightycicadalord]

8030c, no hiss in dead silent room at 1ft

 

[anmpr1]

8030c, no hiss in dead silent room at 1ft

Maybe it's just a simple price point thing. Your 8030c is a serious shoebox for serious dollars, from a totally reputable and totally serious company (as far as I can tell). On the other hand, you'd think that JBL would be interested in eliminating self-generated noise from their 'studio monitors'--which are marketed as capable instruments to be used for mixing et al. But, then again, the small JBLs don't cost as much as Genelecs.

At the cheapest price point you expect average to even lesser quality. I get that. For my PC, I use a pair of Presonus powered speakers. Not only do they hiss, but they make a very tiny rhythmic popping-like static noise. But, at their price point, which was close to give-away, and for non-critical PC speakers, I don't care.

In fact, when I bought them, I think my Sweetwater 'sales engineer' threw in some Ernie Ball strings and picks to seal the deal. I bet you didn't get strings with your Genelecs! Unless you bought them from Sweetwater. In which case, at their price, you probably got a free 'three pack'!

 

[usern]

8030c, no hiss in dead silent room at 1ft

I believe it when I hear it. My 8030C had noticeable hiss especially at 1 ft.

8030c is a serious shoebox for serious dollars, from a totally reputable and totally serious company (as far as I can tell).

In Genelec model line it's actually lower tiered speaker. When I was in contact with Genelec about hiss issue they recommended going up to more expensive models for less hiss.

 

[Pawelekdabek]

8030c, no hiss in dead silent room at 1ft

I don't wanna to be rude but you should consider checking out your ears at audiologist maybe(that's really concerning)? I've had Genelec 8030 and heard hiss even at 1m away from them and my room wasn't really the quietest one at that time. I replaced them with Neumann KH120 and it is better but still sometimes noticable at night.

 

[mightycicadalord]

Wonder how much it has to do with power. We live far away from other people, so no shared apartment power. Last place was an apartment and you could hear appliance noises from the other units in the monitors. We don't have ac or heat and the biggest power draw is the fridge. It's really, really damn quiet out here too.

My ears are fine thanks. I did get a check up recently, left eustachian tube doesn't like to drain sometimes, but my hearing is still great, up to 16khz for a 33 year old, no losses in any ranges they measured. I'm good.

Don't know what to tell ya guys, if you were in the room you'd agree, they are extremely quiet. Definitely not going to let some posters change what is the reality right in front of me. What's with people jumping to getting hearing checked because they hear something different, good lord.