OK, I'm sure this is going to bring a storm of replies and generate a lot of heat here in the forums. Please realize up-front that is not my intent; I am merely reporting what I am hearing here on my 950.

After hooking up my system last night, I had my head near one of my front speakers and I noticed it hissing quite a bit more than I was used to. I figured maybe it was my amplifiers, and that it was probably time to upgrade them.

Flash forward to today, where I decided to investigate this issue a bit further. The hiss is still there, and I think I've actually tracked down two distinctly different noise floors on the 950. Below are my observations.

Working with my Onkyo DVD player connected optically to the 950 via Optical Input #1, we begin.

Turning on the 950 fresh, with the volume set to -80dB, I hear a very very faint hissing and a very slight upper harmonic of a 60Hz hum. This is what I considered the normal noise level for my old system (dodgy power, and I live within a couple of miles of a fairly powerful FM transmitter). It's barely audible when I'm sticking my ear within 1 foot of the tweeter.

Turning the volume up to -30dB, I begin to play a music CD. The 950 is set to Stereo mode. The trouble starts when I pause the DVD player. The hiss coming from the speakers has increased dramatically from the "cold start" condition. This hiss is audible from several feet away from the speakers. If my room is quiet enough, I can hear it slightly from my sweet spot about 12 feet away.

Repeating the experiment using my CD player. It's hooked up to optical #2 on the 950. Also set to "Stereo" mode. Again, starting up the 950 "cold" set at -80dB, the noise floor is what I consider to be normal for my system.

I start the CD playing. The volume is still set at -80dB. The first "click" on the volume knob to -79dB kicks on the hiss. It goes from what I consider to be normal to something much higher than normal. The hiss does not get louder, even as I take the gain all the way up to 10dB.

The hiss does not go away by dropping the volume back down to -80dB, nor does it go away by stopping the CD player. I _can_, however, make it "reset" by flipping to a source with an analog input. This drops the noise floor back down, and I can repeat the above experiment to bring it back up again.

The very last experiment goes back to the DVD player. I added an analog connection from the back of the DVD to the DVD analog inputs on the 950. I started up the 950 cold again, with the volume at -80dB.

Leaving the volume at -80dB, I started the CD. Same "normal" level of noise. I then hit "Stereo Bypass," thinking this might work around the noise. As I clicked from -80dB to -79dB, the noise level still increased!

Another point of information is that the "mute" function does not affect this noise floor at all.

I'm not sure what to make of all of this yet, but it's the first really significant problem that could take this product down from the stratospheric heights which it has obtained in some reviews so far.

If I get ambitious this evening, I'll grab my oscilloscope and see if I can get some noise floor measurements. Stay tuned.