Is siblance caused by my speakers or the CD?

[Guy]

I have upgraded amp, cd player, treated the room and I still get a slight emphasis in the s and t s with some cds.

I am now running 805s with Musical Fidelity A5 CD and A300 amp. Upgraded from rotel gear. Both systems suffer from siblance in the same room.

Anyone ever have the same experieince with their B&W 800s or is it just a fact that some cds are recorded with excessive siblance?

[DrJRapp]

The silibance originates at the source. It is actually produced by the microphone. That is why you will never hear silibance with electronically generated instuments. Some producers actually choose mics that produce more silibabce than other's in the belief that the brain will then interpret the perfoirmance as more "live" tha n recorded. I for one believe the opposite.

That having been said, how prevelent the silibance sounds and the sharpness of that sound is a function of your playback equipment. B&W speakers seem to vary in how they reproduce silibance. Some of the older series are heavier.

[Karma]

The silibance originates at the source. It is actually produced by the microphone. That is why you will never hear silibance with electronically generated instuments. Some producers actually choose mics that produce more silibabce than other's in the belief that the brain will then interpret the perfoirmance as more "live" tha n recorded. I for one believe the opposite.

That having been said, how prevelent the silibance sounds and the sharpness of that sound is a function of your playback equipment. B&W speakers seem to vary in how they reproduce silibance. Some of the older series are heavier.

HI,
Jerry's right about the silibance being a part of the recording (most of the time). However, our playback situation can exagerate it a lot or even produce its own. Not just the speakers either. The AV receiver, preamp, amp, cables, and speakers can all be guilty. Anything in the audio chain can contribute. Another prime offender is the listening room if it's not properly treated.

In other words, as has been said many times before, we are putting together systems where all components must complement one another to get excellent results. Expensive equipment is not always the answer. I have seen VERY costly systems that I can't stand to be be in the room with.

Concerning your question, I don't find B&W speakers, at least the current models, to be prime offenders. Remember, B&W is famous for studio monitor speakers used by recording pro's to judge the quality of the recording and the mix. Monitors are expected to tell the truth. If a recording is sibilent, it should be so reproduced. If not, well.....you know.

[Guy]

Thanks for the replies.

It's a shame that many recordings are recorded with excess siblance as imo it detracts from the realism of the sound.

I agree that some equipment can emphasize certain parts of the frequency spectrum so system matching is important especially when matching B&W 800s (i'm sure other B&W models are the same but I have not heard others ) as they will be faithfull to the source.

Cheers, Guy.

[Karma]

HI Guy,
To repeat, in big letters, HOW WELL IS YOUR ROOM TREATED? You did not mention it in your last post which leads me to believe that you are discounting it. Don't.

Sparky

[Guy]

Sparky,

I have done several things to treat the room so far:

1) Heavy curtains covering the window
2) Rug in between listening position and speakers (I have suspended wooden floorboards)
3) Good big couch which does help
4) Acoustic foam on front & back wall (looks ugly but does not bother me as it is a seperate room just for music & it does have a significant effect)

The overall effect has been dramatic with just these things and of course experimenting with speaker position also added to the result.

I wish I had more space to play with (room is only 3x4m) but my wife won't let me move the system into the living area after she saw what I did from the room

[MICHAEL STRO]

I have the same problem with siblance on my system. if I go to 2 channel analog it's worse. I've tried a few other cd players,(rotel 1072, rega planet,etc) and the same problem is there. so I've came to the conclusion that it's the cd's. all cd's don't have this sound but most do.has anyone tried remastered cd's.

[Guy]

Michael,

I have various remastered Cd's in my collection. Most sound good but how much better than the original release I don't know. Some of the remastered stuff I have still suffers from excessive siblance or other faults so I don't think remastered cds necesarily cure siblance.

There are many audiophile labels out there that claim to produce good recordings such as Chesky & Reference Recordings but even they sometimes get it wrong :B

A couple of Chesky Cds that I use as a reference to test female vocals are
1. Sara K - Hobo
2. Rebecca Pidgeon - The Raven

Both cds are well recorded and don't seem to suffer from any frequency extremes.

Hope this helps.