Well at least you had one solution open to you ( returning them! ). Sorry to hear it worked out that way. I do not doubt that you heard hiss from the speakers and I imagine you did all the appropriate tests to locate it.
While this might be slightly divergent from topic, I wanted to put this out there as it may be of benefit to some.
I live in an older house and while all wiring is in code, the wire placement was not of the best design. I recently had hiss in one speaker. Swapping the speakers ( stero mains ) proved nothing, I still had hiss in the right speaker. Figuring it was the amp, I thought I would take it in for service. The day before I did, I was in the basement and happened to be right below the main stereo room. Above me was a small juction box on the roof of the basement, which was the floor of the stero room. Going back upstairs, I disconnected the speaker, from the amp.
Amusingly enough, I still had hiss. Moving the speaker solved the issue.
Bob045