Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions New owner hissing sound Odyssey amps...

Ok, long story but I sold my Odyssey monoblocks to a really nice guy down in Phoenix. He is blown away by their performance over his old 20yr old NAD amps they replaced.

However, there is one small issue, he is hearing what he describes has a hissing sound coming from both speakers. He says it is easily audible when seated, normally when he has the music cranked up a bit. He notices it during the background of vocals, in what should be quiet passages or in between notes?

Some testign I had him do as follows:

No hiss with only the amps on...

No hiss with the amps on and Marantz receiver on with volume cranked.

No hiss with Amps on, Marantz on w/volume cranked, Oppo powered on with CD in pause mode

However, when playing a CD is when he hears the hissing sound during soft passages and in between notes.

Could this be the recording? or just a power hiss he is hearing?

Does it happen on ALL recordings or just certain ones? I would try playing a CD that you KNOW for sure is a quality recording before jumping to any conclusions. (I have a few CD's that have an audible hiss on them).

Hi Sir Quack,

Your suggested tests are good. Most recordings made before the advent of digital recordings in the early 1980s (and even after, because many studio engineers were suspicious of early digital recorders and continued to use their Studer analog tape machines for years) and transferred to CD will have audible tape hiss.

It will vary from one recording to the next. Sometimes in the re-mastering process systems like No-Noise were used that would greatly reduce tape hiss (some Miles Davis recordings transferred to CD) but those were criticized for lopping off the decay on cymbals, a side effect that was audible if you listened for it. So some engineers stopped using noise-reduction systems during re-mastering.

Anyway, the guy who bought your amps is young and may not realize that plenty of recordings have audible analog noise.

Regards,
Alan

Possibly some noise introduced by the Oppo? Maybe he should try another cd player as well, just in case the oppo has an issue.

It may have been the recording then, he just sent me an email that he was listening to Knopfler's Sailing to Phili DVD and it was perfect, I've never heard of this artist.

Never heard of Mark Knopfler? Surely you've heard of Dire Straits, of Brothers in Arms, Sultans of Swing, Money for Nothing fame? Mark Knopfler was the band leader, vocalist, and lead guitarist.

You've got some great discoveries to make in his solo work. His albums are all well-mastered, too.

Alan is right about audible hiss on some recordings especially those that were transferred from original analog recordings. I have several of them, especially, those older recordings that were originally sold on vinyl. Anything that is so-called "remastered" from the original will have that sound and, of course, you won't here it until the CD starts to play. Any "hiss" from the player or any other equipment would be heard through the speakers as soon as you powered them up.

An audio nut who doesn't know Knopfler's solo works???

Kidding. Check it out though. Great stuff.

Hey guys, someone near his house needs to swing by and pick up his speakers. His work generally is the of best sound quality of any albums I've heard. Love the Dire Straits stuff (even the ones that don't offer hiss-free recordings), but do tire of his later folk music inspired solo work - I know you all were wondering my view on that issue.

oh that guy, yeah I guess I do know him, the name just didn't ring a bell today, it is Friday.

I loved Dire Straits...Sultans of Swing rocked...