How Quiet is Quiet?

BayStBroker

BayStBroker

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I'm experimenting with a different power amp and I am trying to gauge its operating noise level. Power on, ear inches from speaker, I can hear a faint but definite power hum. It is nothing dramatic like a ground loop. I can hear it is ON (and I wish I didn't). Some of you have heard dozens of different power amps in your systems. How quiet is quiet? How much noise do you detect when your amps (only) are powered on? This amp is solid-state but I am curious to hear from anyone and everyone. What are reasonable expectations for a high-end amp?
 
With a Hegel H360 integrated, I can only hear something very faint within 2-3 inches from the tweeter and overall noise floor in my house is extremely low. So, to me, that's as good as saying dead silent.
 
It depends on what you refer to as high end, however I hear nothing at all with my Goldmund Job amp, completely silent when music is not actually playing in my system. I tested this the other day when another member was complaining of hearing a hiss through his speakers. I put my ear right in front of the speaker and could not hear a sound.
 
Is the noise emanating from the chassis of the ss amp or only audible through the speakers? If it is audible from the amp itself, this is likely transformer noise, sometimes due to poor isolation from other parts/chassis, sometimes due to dc offset produced noise from the power mains. If you disconnect the interconnects and speaker cables from your amp and power it up and it is noisy, this is likely your issue.


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The noise emanated only from the speakers, and did not change at all with volume levels. I've already switched back to my Rogue tube amp, which is very very quiet (just the faintest soft tube rush in distance with ear against speaker). Something must be wrong with the solid-state amp I was auditioning, or with the connection. A $5000 solid state class a/b amp should be dead quiet or near dead quiet, right?
 
:audiophile:Quiet any decent amp should be quiet with no music playing.
I have found you may not know what quiet really is till you get a new what ever that is quieter . Phono amps have the biggest wow factor to quiet for me.

The most profound quiet is in the music it self often their is a blurring of sound that a better built amp will not have. Their is clear and crystal clear then no damm window at all on bright sunny day. I was in a cave guided tour the guide says now we will kill the lights and have total darkness. That is world apart from saying boy is it ever dark out tonight. Some sound systems are so quiet it takes some getting use to. quiet and control of the speaker is a big job for a amp and rarely comes cheap pairing up gear is a big part of the solution or the problem as is set up.

It is like bass you want a nice sounding system with little or no bass not that hard to do . You want a great sounding system with great sounding bass raise your listing chair up one inch, because your wallet will be one inch thinner.
 
For me, if I can hear anything from the system without trying & it is sitting silent so to speak, then I consider it a problem. A barely audible noise with your ears against the speaker is irritating to me, but, acceptable to many especially the person who is trying to or is selling the amp.
 
I don't think what you are hearing is unusual at all with 91db speakers at a few inches, especially if the BC was powered on and the amp in question has input sensitivity less than 1v and high gain. Could be noise from the power lines or other sources.
 
BayStBroker said:
I'm experimenting with a different power amp and I am trying to gauge its operating noise level. Power on, ear inches from speaker, I can hear a faint but definite power hum. It is nothing dramatic like a ground loop. I can hear it is ON (and I wish I didn't). Some of you have heard dozens of different power amps in your systems. How quiet is quiet? How much noise do you detect when your amps (only) are powered on? This amp is solid-state but I am curious to hear from anyone and everyone. What are reasonable expectations for a high-end amp?
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I cannot hear any hums, but I definitely have hiss. More from the pre-amp than the amp. I can hear it from 6 feet away if I really try. Its normal for my pre which is a naim.
 
Hmmm why some one bother to put your ears to speakers to hear the noise when you don't hear at your listening chair ? Maybe it's me but I do not careless if I don't hear anything from my chair :)


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You should be able to put your ear to each driver cone and hear nothing! Nothing! Not-hing!

Only time I ever hear anything out of McIntosh MC2301s is when a noisy tube is going bad.

Speakers here are 90db efficient at 4ohms with great attention to quality EM/RF shielded wiring throughout.

I would like to think that even with 95db efficient speakers, I would also experience the "Sounds of Silence".
 
Again when I had the Octave V70se/V110 and Aavik U300 there was nothing coming out of the speakers or the equipment. But when I had the Bryston B100 sst I did have a low level hum coming from the speakers. Not much but what was strange because if I increased the volume to about 1:00 it suddenly got louder. If I turned the volume back down it wasn't until I hit 9:00 did it drop back down to the original loudness. This was with no music playing but the source was turned on. I could eliminate the noise by lifting the earth ground from either the source (Meridian G08) or the Bryston using a cheater plug or disconnecting the earth ground from the power cord. My local dealer said that was a common problem with Bryston. I didn't believe him until I demoed the Octave and later upgraded to the Aavik U300.

That said my brother in law has Bryston with the same problem. He eliminated the noise by using balanced cables. The Bryston B100sst only has singled ended inputs. If the noise bothers you while listening to music - well find the offending piece and replace it. If not just enjoy the music.
 
Dead quiet here. Its so quiet all I hear is the high pitched tinnitus freq in my ear which I have had since the mid 70's thanks to playing good old rock and rock and drag racing..
 
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