Yeah, you're totally right. After having used them for a few months I don't notice the slight remaining hiss at all.   Now I just gotta figure out how to get my sound card to default to the speakers when the front port isn't plugged in, and switch to the front port when I plug my headphones in.

Is this harmful at all to the speaker? I feel like the ground exists for a reason and to bypass it may have harmful effects.    I have one, just used it and my problem is gone. 

  How does one do this? I'm not familiar with this action.    I know what a ground pin is, but a prong adapter? Do you have a picture I could see? 

Alright, thanks for the links cdsa35000!      One gripe: When it's plugged into my PC there is a weird clicking distortion sound. It goes away with other sources. Does this suggest that I may need a new soundcard or something else? 

Alright, tested the speakers, here are my results:   1. Hisses no matter what's the input   2. Tried multiple outlets throughout my house, still emits a hiss.    Maybe I'm being paranoid, but it seems like it's louder than it should be. I dunno. Anyone with LSR305's can verify for me that...

  I am unable to get to my speakers immediately, but I can later today. I wanted to respond while you were maybe still online.   If the speakers aren't a dud, what is the problem? And what is the cheap and easy fix? I am curious! :)

So I just upgraded my speakers from 12 year old Edifier (target purchased) 2.1 system to a glorious 2.0 LSR305 set up. Holy. Cow. IT SOUNDS SO GOOD.   I had a few issues with electrical noise on the power line emitting from the speakers, which was solved by placing the speakers on their own...

Any thoughts on the AKG Q701? 

Quote: Being a CE major that just finished up Analog Circuits, what type of op amp design did you use for a sound card? 

Quote: My experience wasn't that at all. I had to get the settings right, but after that it was a glorious experience (I came from onboard audio). 

So the idea would be to clip off a small portion (half inch or so) of the clear cover, place and clamp that portion inside the red clamp on the speaker and the red clamp on the amp, and do the same for the black, correct? 

For connecting the Lempa Amp to the Speakers...could I just use the wire that comes with the Dayton amp? Or do I need to pick up some 16 gauge speaker wire like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0029HO66G/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER ? 

Sorry for being misleading. I have a AT2020 with a USB out, not XLR. I didn't know if it would improve the quality of the microphone to go:   USB -> XLR -> 3.5mm -> Sound Card

Yeah, I saw that mentioned in another thread and was considering it. I am a fan of DIY so this might be the route I take. 

Yesh. It's a proxy set up though. It's a pair of edifier speakers (2.1) that I bought from Target on sale 7 years ago. I think it's time for an upgrade!