Speaker Hiss with Krell Amp

dsper,

If you are hearing 'hiss' 3 feet away then something else is also contributing to that noise.  Unless you favor Krell sound over the rest of the aforementioned components I would not recommend Krell amp in your setup.  

In my setup, I only hear 'hiss' sound when I draw my ear close to my 800D2 tweeter. I used to own Classe SSP-800/CA-2200/CA-5200 components that were dead quite.  Call me crazy, but I prefer Krell sound over Classe, even with that faint 'hiss'. 

Good luck with your search! 

Do you hear the hiss with only the Krell amp in the chain? If not the cables it could be a pre or source. To me if the hiss is common in an amp of that caliber I would pass on it especially if a super low noise floor is what you're after. With either an Octave V70se/V100 I had absolutely no noise unlike my Bryston (low hum). Now I have an Aavik U300 and still no noise at all.
Just my opinion and best of luck.

The problem of hiss is NOT your krell amp,  but rather your front end,  I  had the same issue once with an ayon cd2s player,  none before or after every heard a hiss from my krell 700cx,  and I always run directly to amplification. 

audiolabyrinth, 

I have gone through the whole excercise to isolate the 'hiss' last year.  I had the same experience when I owned Krell Showcase series, and now Evolution series. 

Going by the test sequence, with everything else being off and disconnected I started with powering up amp first, heard faint hiss. Then powered processor, the hiss noise was further enhanced. I reversed the sequence by powering processor and nothing.  Keep in mind, I am hearing this hiss only when I draw my ear close to tweeter.  

My speakers sensitivity is rated at 90dB.

The hiss doesn't bother me cause I don't listen to my music standing next to my speakers :-)

dsper,

Have you tried just running the amp with no input (or shorting plugs)?
With no signal applied, does the volume setting on your preamp change the results?

It might be a grounding issue.

Roger