hissing sound coming from speakers

[Flash!]

I have been building a home theater in my basement for the past 3 months. I am at the stage where i am running speaker wire through my ceiling. The speaker gauge is 12 awg from blue jeans in wall rated. I do pass several electrical lines that are in metal conduit. I am not getting a humming sound which is what i was expecting because of the power lines. Its only noticeable at extremely low volume settings and i can't tell if its there when i turn up the volume. Maybe it has always been there, but i now only notice it because i was looking out for the hum noise of the power lines. My speakers are Polk LSI9's. I do notice a big difference in power from my carver amp with the new 12 awg wire. I was using 16 before.

[tcrossma]

How far away do you have to be to hear the hiss?

[treitz3]

Also, are your SC's, IC's and PC's all jumbled up and crossing each other? Some faint hiss is perfectly normal with some systems but anything extremely noticeable there will be a culprit for.

[hearingimpared]

What source do you notice the hiss most? Do you notice the hiss when idle and the source(s) are not on?

[treitz3]

Ah, one more thing I just thought of.......is the hiss still present if you unhook your cable box from the rig? [If you have one in the loop?]

[Flash!]

I think i am exaggerating. The hiss is heard only up close to the speakers and it is noticeable only when volume is really low and before and after a song. If i stop a song from playing it is no longer there.

[hearingimpared]

From the sound of it your source is the culprit.

[avhomedesigns]

I agree with impared. It is most likely you receiver/amp from your description.

Does is do this on all inputs? DVD/CD/Tuner ???

[WilliamM2]

If it were the source, reciever, or amp, I don't think it would go away when you stop the song. Sounds like it is the CD/DVD disc, or whatever it is you are listening to. Probably tape hiss from the original analog masters.

[SolidSqual]

The hiss sounds like a natural result of the speakers being powered. Is the hiss at all irritating or is it more of a gentle white noise? Does it hum more than it hisses? Is the hiss louder in one speaker or the same in both?

Just FYI, most all speakers have some level of hiss coming from the tweeters. It's often natural.