Thanks charlie. The shutoff problem was cured when I added the banana clips. Interestingly I came home from work this evening and the hiss seemed noticeably less. It seems to vary now with different CDs (Miles Davis "Kind of Blue", alot of hiss; "The Hours" soundtrack, some hiss, and "Parachutes" by Coldplay, almost no hiss.) When I crank up the volume with the CD player stopped or off there is no hiss.

The only connection right now is to the DVD/CD player(Sony DVP-S500D, about 5 years old). I really love the sound of the 1050 with the Paradigms, so I may try another CD player if I can get my hands on one.