[JeffCGD]

I'm not sure whether this is a hardware of software issue with sound on my Quicksilver 733MHz G4.

From the day that I brought my machine home, more than a year ago, I found that my standard speaker in the front of my G4 Quicksilver tower makes a low hissing sound when I don't have a headphone jack in the audio out port (headphone port in the back), which is the usual, as I use my machine as a stereo system and general media centre as well as the many other jobs it performs.

When I was running OSX 10.x.x - 10.1.5 (and, I believe, also OS9.x.x), I would get the low hiss front the front speaker unless I hit the mute key (when nothing is plugged into the audio out, remember). Under OSX 10.2 (Jaguar), it seems to be there regardless. And my solution remains to run my audio through my stereo system (which is a shame, as the Harmon Kardon speaker is actually rather nice, and it's good to have that as a usable option).

Am I the only one experiencing this? Is it only my machine, my particular installation of my OS, or is it a wider experience?
I would be grateful for any feedback from the MacOSX.com readership.