Sibilance with rsx 1056 (words sound like "thissss")

[Chuck]

I run apple lossless codec -> airport express -> musical fidelity x-dac, output buffer & psu -> rsx 1056 ->quad 22L speakers.

The recently purchased MF stuff does clear up the sound, but it has also has made the sibilance easier to hear. The sibilance is still there without the MF stuff in the loop, and with other somewhat cheap sources as well. I am considering returning the MF stuff and splurging on a Nait 5i integrated amp and Naim CD5i player. Any thoughts?

I've also purchased naim's recommended power strip seen here: http://www.naimusa.com/2004_site/html/power.html

Thanks!

[DOUGAL]

I run apple lossless codec -> airport express -> musical fidelity x-dac, output buffer & psu -> rsx 1056 ->quad 22L speakers.

The recently purchased MF stuff does clear up the sound, but it has also has made the sibilance easier to hear. The sibilance is still there without the MF stuff in the loop, and with other somewhat cheap sources as well. I am considering returning the MF stuff and splurging on a Nait 5i integrated amp and Naim CD5i player. Any thoughts?

I've also purchased naim's recommended power strip seen here: http://www.naimusa.com/2004_site/html/power.html

Thanks!

Hi Chuck,
I had the same problem with my HiFi system,especally listening to Sopranos, it was like they were spitting at you :P
I changed my speaker cables and got rid of 90% of the sybalance.
I am using "Straightwire" speker cable, quite exspensive tho'
You could try borrowing a friends cables and see if it makes a difference.

Goog Luck

cheers

[DrJRapp]

Most sounds that we classify as silibance are actually recorded on the original media and are sounds that are created by the original recording mic. As such an audio system will either reproduce them faithfully or not. Unfortunatly, quite often the better the speaker/player/amp combo is the more pronounced the silibance becomes. The fact that the addition of the MF made those sounds easier to hear supports that. All that one can hope to accomplish is to introduce a loss in some way that will reduce the upper end brightness.

[ds22030]

Unfortunatly, quite often the better the speaker/player/amp combo is the more pronounced the silibance becomes. The fact that the addition of the MF made those sounds easier to hear supports that. All that one can hope to accomplish is to introduce a loss in some way that will reduce the upper end brightness.

That's pretty interesting and unfortunately, seemingly true with my limited experience in going to 1068. So Jerry, how does one "introduc a loss" to reduce the brightness? I have had some sucess using interconnects but am wondering if there is something else I can try....

[DrJRapp]

Interocnnects are one way. Notch filters another, as are EQs and then there are speaker mods. Unfortunatly, I don't know much about your Quads, but I was able to reduce silibance thru my Klipsch RF7s by modifying the crossovers.

[GregoriusM]

With my Rotel, I noticed sibilance with mid-priced speakers.

Lower end ones didn't produce the sibilance and neither did higher end ones.

It seemed to me that the mid-priced i.e. around $500 - $1000 produced more sibilance than the lower end ones like my Paradigm Focus or the higher end ones like the Vienna Acoustic Haydn Grands did not.

I do agree that a lot of the sibilance is in the recording, but I also agree that every link in the chain can add to it. The input, whether it be a TV, CD player or DVD player can have an effect, the cables, and the speaker, for sure.

Even adding pads under your components to decouple them from the stand can have an effect on the sound.

[Cyclesberuff]

Hello out there! I also have experienced a fair amount of sibilance when I moved to hi-end equipment. The harsh SSSSsssss seem to be originating from the recorded source.My experience with it were confirmed by a simple test a friend of mine and I had done. We basically have the same record library, but two different systems. We listened to each other's CD from our systems. We concluded that both CD's have the same sibilance,further more alot of our CD's shared the same problems. For instance my cd of Kate Bush, The Whole Story not only has sibilance but is also recorded so low that we had to compensate for it by increasing the volume. Well, there is not much I can do about volume leveling, but this is what I did to tame my harsh SSSSsssss's. Of course the first thing I did was spend money, I had read that using Audio Quest's Diamondback interconnects were suppose to help,it did make everything sound better, but it did not solve my problem with a bad case of the SSSssss's.The biggest change I made was for free. First I went from bi-wire to a single wire.This seemed to have helped,possibily by not sending too much signal to the tweeters. Now I am using a 12 gauge single wire. Then, I noticed that I could watch the music coming out from of the drivers. I also noticed that I could watch the center imaging occur. When the sibilance seem to be appearing at its worse it was because both my drivers, tweeter I think, would crash or collide in the center creating a very harsh sound along with a bad case of well you know the SSSssss's.To remedy this I first put more distance between my speakers but really the best improvement came when I angled the speakers away from each other. Not toed in but toed out, just a little.This seemed to make my center imaging travel a little bit farther and when it gets there it sounds smoother and less harsh.That is what helped me out the most, just a slight toe out and not much more.Well that's my fix, and two cents worth in one post. I don't claim to be an expert or anything, this is just what I have done to fix my problems. I have also read in some product reviews that Analysis Plus Oval 9's seem to help but thats alot for a solution which may or may not work. Thanks again and sorry for posting a long reply.

[thyname]

Hey, Cyclesberuff, what equipment do you use? I have Rotel RB1080/RC1070 combo, RCD-1072 cd player, SilverCats interconnects (from Doug/Lex in this forum) and SignalCable speaker cable with Axiom M60s tower in a stereo setup) and I have noticed sibilance as well. I have come to believe more and more that it is my room accoustics to be blamed, rather than the original recording source.

Meanwhile, I never noticed any sibilance with (much cheaper) JBL Northrdige E60s and Rotel RX-1052 stereo receiver, before I sold them to buy my current setup. Anybody would be able to explain why no problems with much cheaper setup?

[Cyclesberuff]

Thyname, I used to live in fallschurch,too bad about rt 7 & 50 in fact all of 7.anyway I currently have a rb1080 I'm purchasing a rc 1090 on Thursday but now have a denon 2805 and a denon 380 cd player I have Polk Audio RTi 12. I like my set up but my tweeters seem to sound harsh or bright so I'm doing everything I can to tame that. I think Dr. Rapp is right It's a combo of both a badly engineered recording, and the better the equipment, the more of the recording you hear.

[thyname]

I totally agree with the comment of Jerry (Dr. Rapp), it is probably the best, most precise posting on this issue. I would also agree with some other comments on another thread on sibilance I posted on room accoustics. Let us now your results on "taming" the problem.

In fact, I live right off route 7.

[Cyclesberuff]

Hey I'm working on it, all I know to do is either throw money at it or play with speaker placement. I don't know what else to do,I'll let you know how it all plays out.