Hi guys, great forum. I think this is the right place to ask this.

Ok, I have a small "entertainment" system (Nothing major) setup right now consisting of:

-ViewSonic 32" n3251w LCD HDTV
-Scientific Atlanta HD Receiver [Connected via Component with Audio]
-Bose 2.1 Speakers
-PC [Connected via VGA with Audio] Running Vista/XP Pro (I play DVD's, listen to music, browse the web, play games with an XBox360 Controller with this machine)
-PlayStation 2 [Connected via S-Video with audio...yes it doesn't look great, I know]

The speaker is connected to the line out (TV has RCA out, using a headphone-to-RCA adapter) of the LCDTV...I would use Optical but my speaker does not have an optical input...of course I could use an amp, but not enough money for that at the moment...maybe in the future.

What happens is that whenever my TV is on any source (ie. HD receiver) there is constant hissing (and a tiny bit of a buzz) that's easily heard through the Bose speakers. It is clearly the LCDTV's fault because everytime I change sources for a quick second until the new source comes up the speakers are silent. Also turning off the LCDTV's power kills the hiss on the speakers...disconnecting the audio cables when the TV is on also kills the hiss, so the problem area is the TV for sure. Also there is a huge "pop" when I turn on the TV.

Now, I've tried a few things...have tried 5 different audio cables, even bought very expensive "gold plated" RCA-to-Mini plug adapters, same thing happens. Also tried to connect the speaker and TV to separate wall outlets, even ran an extension cord to my living room. No help. I bought a Monster Cable power splitter (pretty expensive) and did not help 1 inch...actually made it a bit worse. So I returned all of these and am stuck at point one.

I would like to know what my options are..at the moment I cannot buy an amp because of the reasons I mentioned above...plus not enough room for it anyway.

The hiss is VERY audible especially when I raise the volume on the speakers...if I directly connect the speaker to the PC directly, it is as clean as it can be. Also the volume that the TV sends out is a little low compared to directly connecting my speakers to the PC for example...so during DVD playback I let PowerDVD use a volume raising option in the software, which I never used to do before.

By the way, the TV is 3 prong and grounded with my wall...speaker is 2 prong.

I highly doubt the TV is defective because this is the second ViewSonic (same exact model) that I've been through and the same happend with the first one. Calling ViewSonic did not help one bit.

Any help would be appreciated, and sorry for the long post...I am just tired of this issue that's been with me for the past 2 months that I've had the TV for.

This doesn't sound like a ground or cabling issue. It sounds more like you are hearing the "noise floor" from the TV. Every audio signal has one. Digital signals, properly matched in range, have noise floors that are typically low enough to be inaudible.

Two possible things I can think of:

1. Make all your audio connection digital audio. Your TV probably has HDMI input for this.
Or
2. Make sure all your analog volumes are set high enough, or you will not be using the full dynamic range, and amplifying noise.

- Terry

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately I use different inputs and cannot use the HDMI input at all (even for my HD receiver) because my receiver has a DVI output that carries no audio signal...and my TV does not have a separate audio in for the HDMI input. Other TV's do.

Also all analog audio is already high, even coming from the PC...the noise is audible even at low volumes when the speaker is on.

Nobody?
Please?