I still hear hiss in my 950... (1 Viewer)

[Dan Baxter]

The hiss problem is still bothering me. I ran some more test and found that the hiss is audible from over 9ft. This is the same hiss Steve posted about. It is not a 60Hz hum. I switched everything again back to my Yamaha RX-V3000 + Parasound amp and the hiss wasn't audible from more then 3 inches from the speaker. I think there may be a problem with my 950, however after listening to my friends 950, we could both here the same hiss on his setup(Parasound amps + Paradigm speakers). Is it possible there is a handful of defective 950's??? Most owner's of the 950 posted that they could not here a thing past a few inch's. This is in line with what I'm used to on my Yamaha. I wonder if I should try another 950 from Outlaw. Or maybe I just have really good hearing.

Dan

 

[Mifr44]

Dan,

Since you both have Parasound amps, could you find someone with a non-Parasound amp to test in either of your systems?

Michael

 

[RAF]

If you are hearing audible hiss at 9 feet something is definitely wrong since the vast majority of people with 950s do not have this problem. Yes, your 950 could be faulty, but, as Michael has suggested, your problems might lie elsewhere.

And if you swap out your 950 for another one and still hear the hiss then I seriously doubt that it's the fault of the 950.

 

[Jed M]

I would assume you just have really good hearing. You might want to find a new hobby.
Actually that is curious since your friend has the same problem. I am sure Outlaw can help more than I can. Anyone else with a parasound amp using the 950?

 

[Dan Baxter]

My RX-V3000 has a main in jack so I decided to test that as the amplifier for the 950. What I heard was about the same as the Parasound. Could I just be over critical??? I realize that this hiss most likely isn't effecting the sound quality. I just want to be sure that my unit is not defective. 9ft is pretty far away to be hearing hiss. Any other ideas??

Dan Baxter

 

[Dan Baxter]

Check this out over at the Outlaw forum. It appears there may be a crosstalk problem on the outlaw analog inputs, even with bypass turned on. Is is possible that this crosstalk could be related to the hiss problem I'm having.
http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubb/Forum15/HTML/000356.html

 

[Jeff]

If it's a consistant hiss, meaning, if it's the same no matter what volume you're at, try turning down the gain on your Parasound amps. Go down a quarter of the way if you have to. Then recalibrate the Outlaw to compensate.

I had to do this with my Parasound amps and an old Chiro preamp that hissed. By doing the above, I could only hear the hiss with my ear up to the speakers. Still, 9ft away is a lot of hiss!

And just so you and others know, it had nothing to do with the Parasound amps. I get no hissing with my current preamp.


Jeff

 

[Vince Chan]

I hear hiss about 8 feet away with my 950, but only when using an analog input, or a digital input with nothing connected to it (or powered down). I have Paradigm active/40's for mains, and using my old Yammie 495 receiver for the other channels. I hear hiss from the actives more than the other speakers. The hiss is contant in volume and doesn't change when I changed the volume on the 950.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Dan- You are unfortunately not the only one...
http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubb/Forum15/HTML/000355.html
http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubb/Forum15/HTML/000290.html
Hopefully, someone gets this successfully dealt with, and then lets us know what the solution is.
Hiss 9 ft from your speakers is *not* normal. I would say that anything apparent other than with your ear right up against the speaker is not normal.

 

[BobRoulier]

I use a parasound 2205 for my front 3 and the 49tx for the rears going through my paradigm studio 100s no hiss even with my ea against the speaker. Hope you find the problem:frowning:
Bob

 

[Mifr44]

Bob,

I wasn't trying to imply that the Parasound amps are the reason for the hiss, but it may the interaction between the Outlaw 950 and the Parasound amps that is causing the hiss. The speakers may also be part of the problem.

Sometimes, the only way to solve a hiss problem is to remove the component that "seems" to cause it. I owned an Onkyo Integra DTR-7 receiver that had a significant hiss, and I could hear the hiss at my listening position 9 feet away. Once I replaced the the DTR-7 with the Denon 3300, the hiss dropped to a few inches from the tweeter (quite normal in my book). All subsequent HT receivers, prepros and 2 channel preamps that I auditioned and owned didn't cause the hiss to increase beyond these few inches.

Michael

 

[BobRoulier]

Michael,
no offence taken just adding my two cents

 

[Will]

turning down the gain on your Parasound amps

I don't have a Parasound amp but I wonder if this is really recommended. If each channel of the amp is calibrated by the factory, so as to have some optimal, and identical (for all the channels of the amp) gain, how difficult would it then be to change the gain back to the factory set level, on all five channels?

 

[Dan Baxter]

I'm using a Parasound 2205 amp with Studio 100's and 20's. I've actually tried 2 other amps now with my 950 and all have the same hiss. If I switch back to my Yamaha RX-V3000 + amps the hiss is almost inaudible even with my ear against the tweeter. I just want to be sure that my 950 is not defective. Many have said they can only hear the hiss on the 950 with there ear agaisnt the speaker. This is what I'm use to on my Yamaha, hiss from 9 feet away just seems like there might be something wrong. Don't get me wrong, I think the 950 is a great deal and it sound's wonderfull for the money. Here is a short list of minor problems that I have so far experienced with my 950.


Faint Hiss - audible from 9 feet from my speaker even at -79db

Audible Crosstalk - when a CD is playing and you switch to any of the analog inputs and turn up the volume between -5db - 0 you will here the CD playing.

OSD pop's up during layer changes - I realize this may be my JVC dvd player, however I never had this problem on my Yamaha reciever.

Audio locking - I've experienced a random problem locking from a DTS DVD to DD or back to PCM CD. I seems very random, but I had to push a few buttons to get my 950 to switch back to PCM. Even though the 950 displyed PCM I heard no sound. Has anyone else seen this problem?

Dan

 

[Will]

Do you hear the loud hiss on all channels or just two? If on all the channels, is it louder on some channels than others? Do you have a 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 setup?

Also, what type of CD player are you using and how is it connected to the 950?

 

[Mike Knapp]

About the hiss people are hearing. I switched my input to DVD, left the DVD player off, boosted the volume to full reference (0 db) and I couldnt hear squat as close as 4 inches from my speakers. It just isnt there in my system.

I do have extensive power conditioning on the system.

Mike

 

[Steve Zimmerman]

I do have extensive power conditioning on the system.

Mike, you could remove your "power conditioning" from the system and very likely that would have no effect on the hiss.

Dan, This is an intriguing situation indeed. I would NOT view the hiss you are hearing as a feature because others don't hear it. It's either a configuration issue or you have a defective unit.

--Steve

 

[Patrick R. Sklenar]

Dan,
I don't see it, but perhaps I missed it as I skimmed the above, but have you called Outlaw about this hiss yet? From what I've been able to determine, the vast majority of us with 950's do not hear any hiss unless our ears are right up to the speaker grill.
However, there have been 2 or 3 cases reported (that I have heard of at least) where they were suffering from hiss audible from the listening postion. One of the persons having this difficulty is Steve Richardson (I *think* that's his name) from just outside Boston. He goes by the nickname "Perfect" over on the Outlaw Saloon. From some of his postings, I understand that he's been in very close contact with the Outlaw's as they have been attempting to figure out why he's suffeirng with this when the majority of us are not.
So, in summary, you're not alone in having this problem, but you're in a very small group. If you haven't talked to them, give the Outlaws a call, maybe one more configuration will help them figure out what's going on in these rare cases.
Good luck!

 

[Mike Knapp]

Steve,

I agree that the power conditioning probably would'nt make any difference in the hiss. I just mentioned it as something that may be different in my system from someone elses. If anything the power conditioner would have more effect on the source devices.

Mike

 

[Ted Kim]

I hope double posting is not against the rules. But since my post is relevant to two threads, I'll share what I just posted in another thread.

I did a test last night on the hiss issue and the issue of crosstalk between channels. Mike was right about no hiss with the DVD but that is because the input is most likely digital in your case. However, if you use an ANALOG input on any of the channels, I could hear the hiss at the listening position, about 8 ft away with the volume at about +1 to 10. I tried it on all the different inputs and seemed to get hiss only when it was on the ANALOG setting. In digital or using ANALOG BYPASS, the hiss went away. I didn't notice it before because my usual listening volume is much lower at -25. I also did a short test on the crosstalk and was able to hear it with ANALOG sources again but not with digital. The crosstalk seemed to vary with the input that I selected when I had the VCR on play. I can't remember whether Analog BYPASS made a difference with the crosstalk. So there are definitely some issues that are not isolated complaints.