Separates, any hiss?

W WALDECKER

i just read a thread on the audio circles asking how quiet is your pre amp? and i tried my tempest pre amp with the cdp on but not playing and the pre turned to maximum volume with the mono extremes powered up because i never turn them off and with my 91 db efficient speakers i could hear nothing at all. but when i used a rotel rb 1080 amp and rc1090 pre in my system i could always hear a faint hiss and i know the noise floor is gear dependent and you could probably measure noise from the tempest with test instruments but it is inaudible to me. i think in normal listening conditions a slight hiss is not a problem unless you are listening to music with extended quiet passages.so if you have a little hiss it is no big deal.someone else with a tempest replied to the thread on the audio circles and said they could hear no noise from thier tempest so i know i am not the only one to make this observation.

louthewiz

That sounds like a grounding/bonding problem,the best way to check is to go to where the power comes into the home and see if the system's ground is propely hooked up or the ground where it should be hooked up to isn't loose or the grounding rod is connected.