How much noise is too much noise?

[kanicker]

1. 100 Watt Amp - levels at mid range
2. Pre Amp volume turned up 1/4 from left.
3. Switch to CD, but CD player off.
4. Listen very carefully, room is silent... do I hear anything? not sure...
5. Turn pre amp volume to 1/2
6. Listen carefully again... Whats that? I hear white noise coming out of the speaker!

At what point is this acceptable? Has anyone listened to the silence of their gear?

[Airplay355]

yea I have....its gets loud once the reciever volume is about 2/3 of the way up, however i have a low quality aiwa reciever with a THD of .9% so im sure I'll have more noise then you.....too much noise is when it drives u crazy, if u dont like it fix it....but if u can live with it then try to forget........once u've noticed it though its hard to forget its there

[MxStYlEpOlKmAn]

when the blood starts gushing out yo ears, and you hear these TERRIBLE ringing noises...i think thats about enough

[HBombToo]

I can turn my h/k preamp to max volume with all sources off and don't even hear a wisper. h/k 520 as prepro into an Outlaw 770 Amp.

HBomb