Hi all.

I just got myself a Creative Inspire M2600 2.1 audio system last Saturday. I generally play my music at very low volumes. Last night, a senior (at my university), came up to my room and played a few songs at full volume (set both on the speakers and within the OS). The duration of such playback was only around 10 secs or so (* 5 songs).

Ever since, I can hear a distinct background hiss everytime the speakers are on (more so, when the volume level is set to 6 or greater). This happens even when there's no music playing. The hiss gets subdued on playback, but I can still figure it out. This was *probably* absent before the incident. I might be wrong though.

Are my speakers screwed?

Sounds like regular background noise. What happens if you disconnect the inputs and just let the speakers sit there turned on? If the noise goes down when you turn down your speaker amp's volume, then at least partially is the amp.

My speakers are hooked up to my notebook. If I disconnect the inputs, the hiss dissappears.
At this point, if I turn up the volume level to max, there is a very slight hiss (which, for all intents and purporses, is negligible).
By the way, the bass level on the sub-woofer is set at 50%.

Then it's clearly your notebook, likely its output level is too high. How do you control the volume? On the software player, on Windows, on the audio device's own control panel, or on your speakers? If the hiss is coming from the laptop as your post implies, then lowering the volume on the speakers should take care of it, just set your player/Windows/audio device volume as high as possible without distortion and control the volume from your speakers.

Try lowering the master volume from Windows Mixer.

Hiss isn't "damage". When a speaker gets damaged, you'll usually hear distortion, rattling, or ...nothing! If a tweeter gets 'blown", you won't hear any highs, etc.

Hiss comes from the electronics. All amplifiers & preamps have some noise. As Andy suggested, the relative volumes between the computer's volume setting and the speakers' volume setting probably got changed when the senior messed with it.

It would be very unusual to damage the electronics by playing the music too loud, and if you do "blow" the amp, it's not going to hiss, it's going to die.

Usually "powered" speakers can take the full-power of their built-in amp without any damage. (But, please don't go out of your way to test my theory! )