Background silence is golden

[Out-Of-Phase]

In the background, silence is golden.

I have a headphone amp that has an absolute pristine black background. It is dead silent. No hiss, no hum. My headphone listening experience is extremely enjoyable.

Does anyone know of a receiver or power amp out there that is dead silent at the speaker (when placing your ear to the tweeter and mid-range) at zero volume?

My greatest pet peeve in audio is audible hiss and hum.

There must be a receiver (or amp) out there that possesses a complete black background at idle with no volume.

Any ideas and experiences?

 

[lovinthehd]

My Denon 4520 and JBL speakers produce dead silence with volume turned all the way down as well as at reference level with no content playing....pretty sure my bedroom set with an Onkyo avr and Ascend speakers do the same...will test later.

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

My vintage Yamaha RX-Z9 is dead silent.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[snakeeyes]

My Yamaha RX-A2060 and other 2 Yamahas A770 and V681 are all dead silent.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

Interesting. I’ve heard Yamaha products are really quiet. My Denon X4400H AVR produces a little hiss, however I have to place my ear to the speaker to hear it though. I guess I’m just too picky. I’ve still got some audiophile blood left in me from a long time ago.

 

[Andrein]

I guess the source also matters in this context. And some other factors as having dimmers and other devices in the house, radio interference, etc

 

[PENG]

Interesting. I’ve heard Yamaha products are really quiet. My Denon X4400H AVR produces a little hiss, however I have to place my ear to the speaker to hear it though. I guess I’m just too picky. I’ve still got some audiophile blood left in me from a long time ago.

I have had all kinds of gear, still do, they may all be silent according to most people but you have a dead silent background, with ear stick to the grill you probably could hear something from any of them. I just did and hear nothing, and it's the 4400 in use, only as prepro. When they (also the X3400H) were fully used in a 2 channel system, I thought they were silent too. It also depends a lot on the sensitivity of your speakers, and people's sensitivity to the particular frequency range of the hiss.

Nothing is truly silent. I remember ADTG insisted his ATI amp is silent, I never believe him because I know transformers quite well and they all hum by nature/design. Some hum louder than other, but they all hum. I could hear the slightest hum of any power amplifiers, regardless of cost, and have never heard a truly silent one with one ear touching the top of the chassis. Same deal for hiss, shorter wires and again, less sensitive speakers do help obviously.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

I have had all kinds of gear, still do, they may all be silent according to most people but you have a dead silent background, with ear stick to the grill you probably could hear something from any of them. I just did and hear nothing, and it's the 4400 in use, only as prepro. When they (also the X3400H) were fully used in a 2 channel system, I thought they were silent too. It also depends a lot on the sensitivity of your speakers, and people's sensitivity to the particular frequency range of the hiss.

Nothing is truly silent. I remember ADTG insisted his ATI amp is silent, I never believe him because I know transformers quite well and they all hum by nature/design. Some hum louder than other, but they all hum. I could hear the slightest hum of any power amplifiers, regardless of cost, and have never heard a truly silent one with one ear touching the top of the chassis. Same deal for hiss, shorter wires and again, less sensitive speakers do help obviously.

Yeah, the X4400H is really quiet, although I am using it as a receiver not as a prepro. I've heard resistors and IC Op-amps can contribute to hiss.

And yes, I've owned toroidals in amps that were really noisy. Those old Parasound amps I had from the 90's were really bad.

I'm just too picky.

 

[PENG]

Yeah, the X4400H is really quiet, although I am using it as a receiver not as a prepro. I've heard resistors and IC Op-amps can contribute to hiss.

And yes, I've owned toroidals in amps that were really noisy. Those old Parasound amps I had from the 90's were really bad.

I'm just too picky.

My surround and rear speakers are on long runs of cables, they all produce clearly audible hum with ear on grill but in audible otherwise, even from a few inches. That is the case regardless of what AVRs or AVP+amps they are connected to. Again, I don't believe anything is silent, except when the plugs are pulled, or breakers open. People tend to exaggerate...

 

[slipperybidness]

@Out-Of-Phase
A number of factors are at play that may or may not allow for dead silence (not just the speakers/amp combo)!

My goal for any system (store-bought or DIY) is ALWAYS to be able to crank the volume to max, no source playing but source powered up, put my ear inches from the tweeter, and hear complete and utter silence!

I can't always achieve that goal, but I usually get close, and I have indeed achieved that goal on several systems.

For sure, I have done this with a Parasound 1206 amp at max gain, an Emotiva USP-1 Pre-amp with any source active but not playing and max gain on the pre, and my Philharmonitors, P363, and DT SM350.

Same results for my Pio 82txs AVR and my GE T2 speakers.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

@Out-Of-Phase
A number of factors are at play that may or may not allow for dead silence (not just the speakers/amp combo)!

My goal for any system (store-bought or DIY) is ALWAYS to be able to crank the volume to max, no source playing but source powered up, put my ear inches from the tweeter, and hear complete and utter silence!

I can't always achieve that goal, but I usually get close, and I have indeed achieved that goal on several systems.

For sure, I have done this with a Parasound 1206 amp at max gain, an Emotiva USP-1 Pre-amp with any source active but not playing and max gain on the pre, and my Philharmonitors, P363, and DT SM350.

Same results for my Pio 82txs AVR and my GE T2 speakers.

In order to achieve dead silence, what are some of the procedures or equipment needed?

 

[M Code]

Key points that may affect audible hum or noise level @ the loudspeaker..

• Selected source input, mode position
• Volume control, trim level settings..
• Tone controls, EQ settings

Just my $0.02...

 

[snakeeyes]

This thread makes me suspect that adding an external amp may add some small amount of hiss. Hopefully no hum.

 

[PENG]

This thread makes me suspect that adding an external amp may add some small amount of hiss. Hopefully no hum.

Possibly, never happened to me though, and I have had quite a few different amps.

 

[slipperybidness]

In order to achieve dead silence, what are some of the procedures or equipment needed?

I have never actually used test equipment to eliminate hiss/hum, etc. It has been trial and error, and honestly likely some luck too.

Proper gain structure tends to be very important! In the DIY world, you build a design for a particular gain structure / input sensitivity.

For store-bought gear, if you can't get dead silence with all the gains maxed-out, then it is nice to have adjustable gains to attenuate the input signal to the amp. Again, you are really just "dialing in the gain structure", and most users will just do that by ear. Of course, gain control for a store bought amp is a luxury item (i.e. adds to the final cost).

The S/N on the pre-amp is critical! If you have noise on the outs of the pre-amp, feeding the inputs of the amp, then that noise also gets amplified (i.e. small noise on an amp input gets mulitplied by the gain factor the same amount as the singal).

Also, you may have other appliances or fluorescent or LED lights on the same circuit, and you may be fighting a losing battle in that regard. And coax cable from your cable provider is notorious for having terrible grounding that introduces hum.

I do find that AVRs with the 2-prong power cord tend to be the easiest to achieve dead silence. And, adding an amp makes it more difficult. Then, the more complex your system becomes, the more likely you are to get unwanted noise at the speaker output.

Having all of your gear on a common receptacle is also ideal.

 

[snakeeyes]

Possibly, never happened to me though, and I have had quite a few different amps.

Which amp would you choose between Outlaw 5000 and Monolith3 ? Or would you choose something different?

 

[lovinthehd]

Checked my Onkyo with Ascend speakers in my bedroom....dead silent at idle/full volume on source (but not playing).

 

[PENG]

Which amp would you choose between Outlaw 5000 and Monolith3 ? Or would you choose something different?

It depends, if you have a mid range 11.1 processing capable AVR with only 9 channel amps such as the AVR-X4400H, SR7012, RX-A3070, I would go with the MCA 525 or AT525 NC. I don't like Outlaw and Monolith 5 channel amps because they are too heavy. If you have the AVR-X7200WA (9 ch amps) or AVR-X6400H (11 channel amps),then the Monolith 3 is viable because you can then use it to power the front 3 and let the AVR power the surround and ceiling speakers. I like the Outlaw 5000 (for the price), but it is only slightly more powerful than a 4000/7000 series D&M receiver so there isn't much point.

 

[snakeeyes]

It depends, if you have a mid range 11.1 processing capable AVR with only 9 channel amps such as the AVR-X4400H, SR7012, RX-A3070, I would go with the MCA 525 or AT525 NC. I don't like Outlaw and Monolith 5 channel amps because they are too heavy. If you have the AVR-X7200WA (9 ch amps) or AVR-X6400H (11 channel amps),then the Monolith 3 is viable because you can then use it to power the front 3 and let the AVR power the surround and ceiling speakers. I like the Outlaw 5000 (for the price), but it is only slightly more powerful than a 4000/7000 series D&M receiver so there isn't much point.

I have Yamaha RX-A2060 and want to run 5.1.4 and that AVR has no preouts for the ceiling speakers. Was thinking Monolith 3 maybe for front 3 and let AVR power rears (sides) and the 4 ceilings. Or do a 5 ch amp for powering all 5 base layer channels. What do you think?

 

[Kvn_Walker]

Yamaha AX-596 that I replaced with the Outlaw 2200's has no audible hiss at point blank range, IF the CD-Direct and/or Pure-Direct are engaged. With those disengaged and the tone controls active, a little hiss was audible at point blank range, but inaudible more than a few inches away from the tweeter.