[[email protected]]

I want to provide some better power to my titan 615lx lcr setup and can’t see paying $3000-$8000 in amps. I found the inuke for $500 and it can handle 4 speakers total of 3 for $1500 could handle a 7.2.4 setup minus the subs. Question is when using these with the pre amp outs on my receiver to the titans and my other surrounds will the nx4-6000 provide clean good power to listen at levels above reference. 440 watts per channel at 8ohm titans are mostly 6 ohm if I remember correctly. Don’t need crazy loud just my onkyo provides way to much hiss on the speakers when at thx reference volume and I have to back down to get little hiss where it’s just a bit to quiet for big movies and music. Also can you retain volume control on the receiver when using these?

 

[SteveCallas]

Inuke nx4-6000 does cost $500. I am using one for my BOSS platforms and it is a solid amp for subwoofer duty.

I personally wouldn’t use a switching D pro amp for high sensitivity speakers, especially if your driving reason is hiss from your receiver. The hiss is typically caused on the preamp side of things, not the amplification side.

I would put the $500 towards a better receiver with better DACs, and it will likely have better amplification. The Titans only need a few watts anyway, can’t see a scenario in which they need more than 100 clean watts even under peak dynamic usage.

 

[[email protected]]

I’m using an onkyo RZ-830 so I can’t really buy anything better for less than $2000 for a receiver. I get no hiss when on volume 70. Then from there hiss starts and gets fairly loud by the time I hit thx reference at volume 82. Loud but you can’t hear it when the movie plays until a silent scene or when you pause then it’s very obvious hissing. I figured if these inukes can pass the volume at 70 and below to be equal to what would be volume 140 then the hissing could go away. All wires to the titans are 30 feet or so long passed in ceiling using heavily insulated 12awg speaker wire. All speakers hiss equally. It’s a very large room and volume needs are higher than I like. (But don’t think I want hiss for thx reference) in another room on a 90s receiver this bumped hard and I wouldn’t mind listening without a sub but in the theater room there was very little bass and volume was about half as loud. Is the onkyo broken or do I just need 110db for a large room ( open floor plan for whole entire story of the house including a staircase.

 

[[email protected]]

oddly enough I mostly bought the onkyo 830 to get rid of hiss from the Sony 860 I had. Onkyo has more power claimed and atmos as well but dang it I just want clean no hiss power to atleast 80% volume for the price I pay I would expect 90% volume before hiss but chalked up the hiss to the titans being so efficient.

 

[SteveCallas]

It could be grounding on your equipment causing the hiss, or your power supply. The inuke likely isn’t the answer though.

Do you have different pieces of equipment on different circuits? What all equipment is feeding into the receiver? Older equipment can sometimes add hiss to a receiver simply by being connected to it, even if it isn’t on.

May also want to check your cables.

 

[Sekosche]

It could be grounding on your equipment causing the hiss, or your power supply. The inuke likely isn’t the answer though.

Do you have different pieces of equipment on different circuits? What all equipment is feeding into the receiver? Older equipment can sometimes add hiss to a receiver simply by being connected to it, even if it isn’t on.

May also want to check your cables.

^This. It sounds like you’re not getting a clean signal in this room to start with, so adding outboard amplifiers won’t help. Very high efficiency speakers like the Titans will amplify any noise in the path at high volumes, so I’d work on grounding or check your wiring/cables if possible. That receiver should be able to drive them cleanly. The RZ380 is $480 refurbished now, so there are plenty of other options for well under $2K, but it sounds like you need to work on the source first.

 

[[email protected]]

Grrrrrrrr made no progress except that Nothing is causing the hiss. When no input is on you can press direct mode to have the left and right only and get a higher max volume option and even at volume 98 the speakers have so little hiss. Select any other mode at all any of them and max volume goes to 88 and hiss is just horrid. So much worse at 10 volume clicks down. Also at clean power I only get peaks of dba from rew of about 88-90dba. Phone app said 96 but I trust a calibrated mic more. (Umic1). I will also mention hiss is roughly equal for all speaker the titans and my Polk tsi200 surrounds so it’s not the 99 efficiency causing that hiss. Grounding and removing all input and outputs does nothing. Just power at max and 1 speakers equals hiss. I really want to enjoy 100 dB average movies. (Bought endgame) why do I have this issue. What else can I try.

 

[DaleNixon]

Just to be clear, the hiss can be heard at seating positions? Because I get some hiss from about 2 ft from tweeters. Seated at 11 ft. away, I hear nothing. This is through a Crown amp.

I had a HUM audible from seating position but fixed that by grounding all of my equipment together.

 

[SteveCallas]

So with no component plugged in to the receiver, you get hiss coming out of the speakers at max volume? If so, you either have dirty power or high noise floor in your pre amp section.

I had the Titans for a while, and at master volume level 0 (calibrated reference), i could put my ear to the compression driver and not hear anything. This was confirmed by the fellow who bought them from me, he asked to duplicate the test. I am using a Marantz 8012.

 

[[email protected]]

Yes not a hum but a hiss very very audible at any seat. Even down the hall you still kinda hear it. Yes hisses with no item at all plugged in except for a power cable and 1-5.1 speakers. But also like I said if I switch to direct mode which is 2.0 on no input the noise goes to zero and I can even crank it to a higher max volume of 98(previously 88). Even at 98 the hiss is almost non existent. Is this maybe some kinda of crosstalk or hdmi board issue? I mean very bad hiss with any processed sound mode, thx Dolby mono unplugged all stereo etc. but direct in 2.0 is silent I also can’t pick that mode when an input is on so all I get at higher volume is hiss. If power supply was dirty should I expect the stereo direct 2.0 to be noisy especially when giving it the full 98 volume is clean? I might just order a new unit and see if there’s any difference with a different hdmi board.

 

[[email protected]]

For reference to clean power that is dirty or to atleast remove it from the equation would a power conditioner do the job I see them for sale on a big online store for 75-200. So it that case I can afford it. Or do you truely need the 500+ music studio quality ones? I still think it’s a board for my problem being 2 channel stereo direct is silent at super max volume. Just any mode I actually want including 2.1 stereo is noisy as heck. Is furman elite 15i a really good one at just a little under $300 if worth the price I’ll buy it. Claims it removes or atleast helps remove ground noise. The other furman models are cheaper but don’t look to be as advanced. Open to any suggestions.

 

[SteveCallas]

The more information you give, the better chances of solving it, so knowing that it only occurs in a processing mode is very helpful.

Did you by chance run whatever built in auto EQ program the Onkyo uses? If you did, it’s likely trying to boost the drooping top end of the Titans, and that could very well be causing a hiss. In direct mode, it would defeat any EQ or other adjustments in the system, so you get a straight signal.

 

[[email protected]]

In my attempt to fix this hiss I did a factory hard reset last night. When done and booted first thing it does is calibration. Maybe I’ll do another hard reset tonight and refuse the calibration. I know it also does something for background noise and I do have a projector jvc that I guess could cause problems. Guess I’ll grab a little lcd tv and carry it over for initial setup. Just I did notice even when in 5.1 or 2.1 pure direct mode it still had the hiss. I imagine the hiss would be gone with pure multi channel modes but it’s only slightly less than the thx mode. Dts nueral x is the worst of all modes. Also if I go to the tone control and add or subtract from the 0 setting of the bass or treble the hiss gets louder. Whether I subtract 1 bass or and 10 it’s the same amount of hiss added (maybe 10% more hiss than at 0) so something seems wrong if the tone control adds his when altering either bass or treble up or down.

 

[[email protected]]

TX-RZ920 and TX-RZ820 feature VLSC on all channels whereas the TX-RZ830 uses VLSC only on the front channels so its ability to remove (rather than only reduce) pulse noise and produce smooth signal is limited to stereo speakers


I read this on a site today while doing some research into the 830 to try to figure out the signal to noise, btw its 106db line ihc-a not sure what that means exactly. but being the vlsc is only on the front speakers I assume it mean only front left and right that is the issue. those speakers can be quiet when on direct mode by themselves however add anything else even the sub out and you get noise. or I could completely incorrect. either way why remove a feature from a newer model its not like they replaced vlsc with a neweroption just removed from 7 of 9 powered options. if this is the issue would a emotive a-700 possible help signal to noise is 100-120dba which I understand. 80 watts all channels driven should get the titans to 120db for a concert day. assuming that's in reality 64 watts rms. 0.08 thd at half power on the onkyo 0.1 thd on the emotiva at full rated power. plus at $600ish I can afford this one easily more so that the other emotive plus I need a two channel or more amp for the 7.2.4 I'm working on. currently 5.1 with 4 heights to be installed just messing with the hiss issue first. update emotive also has a Toroidal Transformer which I don't know what it is for sure but it was a -1 point for the onkyo not having it on a review site.

 

[mtg90]

Sounds like the hiss is from the DSP in the AVR, using pure direct mode bypasses the AVR's DSP on the L/R channels resulting in the lower noise floor. Unfortunately I suspect the noise may be passed on through the preouts to any external amplifier. Though you may be able to reduce it with the right gain structure.

 

[rfb6435]

Sounds like the hiss is from the DSP in the AVR, using pure direct mode bypasses the AVR's DSP on the L/R channels resulting in the lower noise floor. Unfortunately I suspect the noise may be passed on through the preouts to any external amplifier. Though you may be able to reduce it with the right gain structure.

+1

Moving to external amplifiers will generally make it harder to control noise.

Once you have an external amp you have ground loop issues, possible cable issues, etc etc.

I have also noticed that many AVRs have noise from the DSPs which only goes away in direct mode.

-Rich

 

[[email protected]]

did full reset again last night. skipped all the setup. did manual setup and turned off all options. volume goes to 77 (-5) now without much noise. just a little better can go volume 0 now without it being the worst thing in the world but still hisses. I get about 100-105 db peaks on this volume with the 99dbwtmeter titans. according to my umik 1. decided to crank it to just shy of max (don't need to send clipped signals) and not sure but either the amp using only 5 of 9 powered channels ran out steam or the mic ran out of room as db only rose to peaks around 110-112. lastly went to closet with small tv ran calibration and its still good enough at -5 tolerable for battle scenes at 0 and to dang loud at +5. using the equalizer on the avr does not affect anything adversely, using tone such as bass or treble leads to hiss at lower volumes. so something is wrong with the DSP on tone control as lowering bass by 1 or adding 1 should not go from no static to static sound.


now for my goal of the emotiva. get from -5db being pretty much hiss free to +5 volume being pretty hiss free. that way I can go deaf listening to occasional 110dba scenes and songs.


PS. while in manual mode it asked for speakers ohms. either 4 or 6. I picked 6 since I have the titans and polk tsi200 (polks may be 8ohm not sure) switched to 4ohm and no change.


Also what do people buy to run 120+db in their theaters?!?!?! I cant get 100db without some hiss with a $1000 receiver
(figured denon x4500 or onkyo 830) would be all you need as a pre amp quality, my sources add no noise when connected or while playing)

 

[SteveCallas]

You seem deadset on buying an external amp even though you just realized the issue is in the processing of the receiver. I don’t get it.

The RZ-830 is a $650 receiver, so I’m sure several better, quieter pre amp sides exist, and in doing so, a better amp section as well. You can get a refurb Denon 6400 for $1100 at accessories4less, or a Yamaha Aventage 3070 for $1000. Both should do better than the Onkyo you have.

 

[[email protected]]

You seem deadset on buying an external amp even though you just realized the issue is in the processing of the receiver. I don’t get it.

The RZ-830 is a $650 receiver, so I’m sure several better, quieter pre amp sides exist, and in doing so, a better amp section as well. You can get a refurb Denon 6400 for $1100 at accessories4less, or a Yamaha Aventage 3070 for $1000. Both should do better than the Onkyo you have.

just my thought for external amplification was to raise the clean max db. my thinking is along the same route as sources with different master volumes. like for instance 4k movie (A) plays I get 85db average with no hiss. 4k movie (B) play I get 95db average no hiss. so my thought is external amp able to play with both less distortion at higher volume combined with higher max volume may give me the 5-15 clean db max volume increase I want. Or I could raise the master volume using a minidsp 8 channel dsp to simply raise the max db while also also using its main function to apply peq filters for better sound. just rather buy something I don't have and can keep or years than get rid of a 3 month old receiver.

 

[dtsdig]

All signs are pointing to your receiver being defective or just poorly designed. Onkyo went way downhill around the time the RZ line was introduced and they dropped Audyssey from all of their products in exchange for their own in house room eq solution. If your receiver is only 3 moths old, have you considered sending it in for possible repair?

As all others have said, adding more devices externally will only increase the problems.