I just noticed all 5 of the tweeters in my speakers emit a hissing sound. I stumbled upon it accidentally, while dusting the stands. I have removed all components from the equation (i.e., physically unplugged) & have only the 970 connected to my power amp (Anthem MCA 50) via the 5 RCA preouts. Again, no other cables are connected to the 970. When I turn on the 970, I can hear the hissing. Adjusting volume/mute/input/etc makes no diff, only turning off the 970 makes it go away. I borrowed a friends old Yamaha 2 channel preamp & connected it to all 5 channels of my amp (2 at a time, of course) & I got dead silence every time. Slipping the 970 back in again yields the hissing.

I have tried 2 sets of quality RCA interconnects, from Monster & Bluejeans. Equipment is plugged into a Belkin PureAV PF30 power console.

What gives here?

Forgot to ask if anyone can please listen real close to their speakers while their 970 is on to see if they get the hissing too. Man, this has me bummed

I don't have a 970 with which to verify, but this does raise a couple questions in my mind that may help others. How far away can you be and still hear the hiss - are we talking 6" or are we talking 10'? Also, is the hiss volume dependent?

When I tested the 970 before sending it back and keeping the 990 I did notice a higher noise floor (hissing) with the 970 than the 990. However, mine varied with volume and was never audible at my seating position (6 feet from the nearest speakers) at sane listening volumes. Sounds like you have something else going on.

Gonk, I can not hear it from my seating position. Only if I listen real close, like say about 1 foot away & closer. I then walked to each speaker & verified it was hissing too. I'm going to rewire everything & try diff power outlests, etc, today after work.

I knew this rang a bell. Check out this thread:

http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_topic/f/15/t/001342.html#000001

Scroll down until the point where soundhound gets involved and read his explaination on why some processors hiss and others don't.

With my 970 I hear hissing from my front speaker tweeters at 2 feet away and at 1 foot away from my rear speaker tweeters.

iardon, that sucks My hissing is not nearly that bad. I can hear it from around the 8 - 12 inch mark.