Nord User Forum

Lots of misunderstanding here. I will try to make it simple:

The speakers I heard had a loud hiss REGARDLESS of what was plugged in. Even with NO INPUT and ZERO GAIN they still hissed loudly.

By contrast my yamaha stagepas with gain turned UP did not hiss anywhere near as much.

We were in a large demonstration room of a PA hire company. IT was a saturday morning and very quiet, so we could hear the hiss incredibly clearly. It was massively offputting.

IF that level of hiss is normal then why would no other speaker I've ever owned not have it? I'm pleased to see from a previous poster that their speakers are quiet. The ones I hear (and didn't buy) must have been defective. Fingers crossed

Depends what you are considering quiet or noisy or "normal".

"db" is a nice scale for that.

Yamaha stagepas 300 is awfully noisy even in a shop if your ear has a normal audiogram and is not too far, about 2m from the tweeter.
The noise is hearable at 5 ~ 6 meters in a quiet room in my home.

As I said in my previous post : "no source pluged in, just swithed on", zero gain, actually, no speaker is totally (or "absolutely") quiet.

The "pchhhh" wind / white noise that comes from the tweeter can become very disturbing if you intend to use that kind of stage amplified speakers at home.
This is the case of the few I tried & remember : FBT Jolly 12 , Yam stagepass 200 , MAckie SRM 450, Wharefedale Titan 12 , ...

From what you say about the conditions you had for listening, IMO, the ZXA-1 unit was defective, but ... that does not mean you won't get a noise with a normal unit
hope it helps ... hope you wont be disappointed after you buy your amp if you are looking for a really quiet one.

I recently purchased an EZ ZXA1 and can confirm that the hiss/"wind noise" is definitely audible and perhaps a bit louder than the noise of other speakers i had (which were cheap and not worth mentionning, btw). This hiss is just as loud with no input and zero gain. I'd say it's about as loud as the speakers of my PA (Lucas Performer) which are rather loud i have to admit. So, if you intend to use it at home, it COULD be annoying. I use it mainly on stage and as there is a lot of other noise (music, audience, etc.), I don't hear the hiss anymore.

I bought them. They are great. The hiss is very quiet and not noticeable.

EV did not write back to me however, shame on them.

jazzjohn I have pair that i bought brand new a couple of years ago when they first came out, and they hiss like a couple of snakes. Same symptom as you describe, regardless of anything being plugged in the hiss is always there. The hiss is at a fixed level independent of the master gain knob at the back. I have tried them at three different buildings and its all the same so nothing to do with the building power not to mention i run them through a pair of furman power factors. Whether or not i am 1ft or 10ft in front the hiss sound is just as loud , which I attribute to the awesome power of these speakers and otherwise amazing sound quality and projection for their size. I wouldn't want to aim these at a audience either in a small room either since any quiet moment between songs would be overwhelmed by the hiss, so really the only practical use for these for me is stage monitors. As a tip, i've found draping a thick towel over the front cuts the hiss down by about 60% making them almost bearable for practice use at home, however don't cover the back since thats where the passive heat exchanger is ! This ev hiss issue is also discussed in another forum, just google on "Electro-Voice ZXA1 - the Verve 8ma killer" to find the link. I have hesitated returning them since if they decide there is nothing wrong i will have to pay to have them sent back so i figure with my luck my money is better spent on buying a pair of clean monitors which I am presently shopping around for.

It could be that they had a faulty batch, or it could be that they have since improved the design. The pair that I bought a few weeks ago are MUCH quieter than the ones I heard in a shop (which were ex-demo, so presumably of an older batch). I'm sorry yours suck so much, I'm really delighted with mine.

I'm choosing between EV ZXA1 and Yamaha Stagepass 300 PA. The price is nearly the same. But Yamaha has a mixer and deliver the stereo which I may like better. What are your thoughts?

Here is another idea : http://www.thomann.de/fr/yamaha_dxr_8.htm

frantzkb wrote:Here is another idea : http://www.thomann.de/fr/yamaha_dxr_8.htm

Thanks! I'm gonna try that one. It looks interesting. I wish it had weight under 10kg (it's actually 13.5kg). Anyway. I would appreciate any other suggestions under 10kg.

I just got a ZXA1 and placed it right next to my QSC K8. Upon powering both on, the K8 is dead silent while the ZXA1 emits a loud hiss.