Speaker Hiss with Krell Amp

Well Stereo5 that is what I am thinking given all the info about noise floor and retrieval of low level detail not to mention something could be wrong with it.

I also know that there are not connectors between the XLR pins so Almarg could have this right.

The hiss is audible about three feet away.

I would find that unacceptable. This awkward, as I've been pushing a Krell audition for your CS 5's for some time. Perhaps, Al is right. He usually is. IME, most Krells seem to work best when used in balanced configuration, though I can't really comment on Krell's CAST usage. 

dsper,

If you are hearing 'hiss' 3 feet away then something else is also contributing to that noise.  Unless you favor Krell sound over the rest of the aforementioned components I would not recommend Krell amp in your setup.  

In my setup, I only hear 'hiss' sound when I draw my ear close to my 800D2 tweeter. I used to own Classe SSP-800/CA-2200/CA-5200 components that were dead quite.  Call me crazy, but I prefer Krell sound over Classe, even with that faint 'hiss'. 

Good luck with your search! 

Do you hear the hiss with only the Krell amp in the chain? If not the cables it could be a pre or source. To me if the hiss is common in an amp of that caliber I would pass on it especially if a super low noise floor is what you're after. With either an Octave V70se/V100 I had absolutely no noise unlike my Bryston (low hum). Now I have an Aavik U300 and still no noise at all.
Just my opinion and best of luck.

The problem of hiss is NOT your krell amp,  but rather your front end,  I  had the same issue once with an ayon cd2s player,  none before or after every heard a hiss from my krell 700cx,  and I always run directly to amplification.