Well I hate to say it, my unit hisses quite a bit. Just got it yesterday, so I haven't fully calibrated it, but in stereo mode, the speakers hiss with nothing playing. The center is the loudest. I can hear the hiss from more than 10 feet away. The other 4 speakers hiss, but I cannot perceive if I can hear them since the are drowned out my the center hiss.

The hiss seems to be unrelated to volume setting. I turned the trim levels down 3 dB, but the hiss didn't change either. Plus the trim settings should do nothing in stereo bypass mode, which I was using. I disconnected the interconnect from the amp channel and the hiss dropped to almost inaudible levels (had to be within 6" to hear anything, which is great performance).

So, if I turn the system on but don't play anything and walk into the room, I hear hiss. Sure, once the music starts it is mostly drowned out. I'll have to do more playing around this weekend. I am pretty sure listening to music quietly or during quiet passages would be enough to let me hear the hiss.

Anyone else have this problem and figure out how to solve it? Worst case seems to be either buying a more expensive unit that has quieter cicuitry, or buying a 2 channel analog preamp for my music listening. With the latter I can leave the 950 off when listening to music, keeping the center and surrounds quiet. Of course I would much prefer a quiet AV preamp.