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Faint speaker hiss

Was wondering if anyone here might be able to help me out. I recently acquired a new naim integrated (XS2) to pair with my Harbeth p3esr. I am using straightwire speaker cables which I've had for years. I noticed when I plugged everything in that the speakers have the ever so slightest hiss coming from them. I cannot hear it unless I get extremely close to to tweeter and te sound becomes non-existent once music starts playing. I have had the amp for about a week now and have kept it on 24/7. Does anyone know where the small hiss could be coming from? I tried different speaker cables/power cord and that didn't change anything. I also tried unplugging all my sources and left just the amp and speakers plugged in ad still had the faint hiss. Like I said, it's not audible unless I really get my ear close to the tweeter (about 3 inches). I might be nit picking but was wondering if anyone has had experience like this before? Should I try a different outlet? I am in an apartment so only have one or two places to put everything. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
mgrec42
helomech
1,506 posts
 
Don't lose sleep. This is normal and very common. It's the noise floor of your amp and no power conditioner or magic power cable will alleviate it. Anyone who tells you otherwise is completely full of ****
willemj
1,036 posts
 
No this is not normal anymore. I just checked with my own P3ESRs (driven by an old refurbished Quad 405-2 and just a volume control): nothing, absolutely nothing, no mains hum and no noise. It might be different if you are a young girl, of course, since they have better high frequency hearing (I will have to ask my daughter). With very efficient speakers you might just hear something, but not with inefficient ones like these.
Cables do not make any difference in this respect, so they are also out. And since you also hear it when you have disconnected your sources, it is not those either.
So it is the amplifier in one way or another. Do you hear it on every input or only on some?
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,464 posts
 
If you only hear it with your ears 3 inches from the tweeter, don’t worry about it. I hear a slight hiss from my phono preamp ( tube ). If you don't hear anything from your listening position why bother with it?
johnk's avatar
johnk
1,973 posts
 
Have 110db 1 watt loudspeakers running and no noise so while a bit of hiss can be normal in some systems its possible to not have any. Many point to tube amps as having noise but I have found that some SS amplifiers can be even more so.
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 
You shouldn't worry about it given your current speakers but keep this in mind if/when you decide to upgrade or switch to more efficient speakers, e.g., > 92 dB/w/m, etc., since the hissing sound could become more audible. Ideally, the tweeters should be dead quiet if your amplifier/preamplifier - in case of separates, have a properly matched gains but there's nothing you can do with an integrated unit. One could argue this is an indication of a suboptimal design by the manufacturer.
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