speaker hiss/new power needs?

[subrandom]

so i just got monsoon mh-505s and they are wonderful (hooked up to a sb extigy) they sound great but when there is no music (or im using headphones) there is a bit of a hiss or static noise. I know for sure it isnt any input ive tried all that and the headphone output on the soundcard doesnt produce any hiss of any kind. I'm thinking its just a poor grounding issue and if that is the case then what would people suggest as a new power solution (my power setup isnt too organized and i think my apartment has crummy/no grounding).

Anyways thats my problem any help would be nice

 

[brent4president]

to be sure mute the line-in

 

[Summoner]

Some amps just hiss - theres not much you can do and normally its unobtrusive. Hum is different and normally caused by bad grounding. I normally just turn my preamp off when not gaming or listening to music.

 

[PlzDieIRL]

I don't know if I should make another thread or not but my question somewhat relates to this topic.

I just got a set of Z-5500's (which replaced my Z-680's). My 680's hissed a little bit, but not much. It was barely noticeable. My 5500's hiss/hum so loud that I can hear it in music. The center channel hisses a lot, the satelittes hiss a little bit, and the sub hums. I've muted every source and it still does it. I tried direct and coax and it does it with both. I also tried moving the speakers off the power strip directly to the outlet and they still do it. The volume of the hiss/hum is not dependant on the volume of the speakers. What is the deal?

 

[Summoner]

I don't know if I should make another thread or not but my question somewhat relates to this topic.

I just got a set of Z-5500's (which replaced my Z-680's). My 680's hissed a little bit, but not much. It was barely noticeable. My 5500's hiss/hum so loud that I can hear it in music. The center channel hisses a lot, the satelittes hiss a little bit, and the sub hums. I've muted every source and it still does it. I tried direct and coax and it does it with both. I also tried moving the speakers off the power strip directly to the outlet and they still do it. The volume of the hiss/hum is not dependant on the volume of the speakers. What is the deal?

You have a ground loop somewhere. Im sure if you do a search on that someone has info on how to solve it.

 

[PlzDieIRL]

Are you sure? I haven't changed anything since taking the 680's out and they didn't seem to have this problem.

 

[Summoner]

Are you sure? I haven't changed anything since taking the 680's out and they didn't seem to have this problem.

Some amps are more sensitive to hum than others. Im sure someone can step in and offer other sources of hum though, im no expert (though ive had my fair share of hum problems hehe)

 

[4keatimj]

Amp hums are caused by the capacitors inside the amp. Basically what happens is that the metal parts on the capacitors expand and shrink according to the frequency of the power, so in America it is 60Hz. What happens then is that this expansion and shrinking of the metal inside a magnetic field causes a current to flow from the capacitor at this frequency. This is introduced as such (for lack of a better word) into the musical information, causing a hum of frequency of 60Hz (in other countries such as PAL countries it is 50Hz). Better amps have different circuits, circuit protection etc to try and prevent this, but a lot of amps don't have this.

So Summoner, there's your explanation

The source of the hiss through the digital input could be from the soundcard, maybe it isn't as well insulated as the analouge ports. More a soundcard issue, I think.