End of a long quest to vanquish sibilance.


As some of you are aware, I’ve spent nearly two years attempting to root out this annoyance, along with fatigue, from my modest system. No one knows just how frustrating this has been more than the handful of forum members who’ve provided numerous suggestions and insights along the way. You gentlemen know who you are and I’d like to thank you again for your ongoing generosity and camaraderie. Eliminating the source of fatigue (DAC) proved easier than the sibilance.

Having swapped out everything except speakers, with no impact on sibilance, I identified a pair of monitors that 1) I could afford, 2) are universally praised and 3) come with a refund policy. I figured this was the only thing left to try, aside from power conditioning.

When the new speakers arrived, I noticed they were a bit taller than my Silverlines so in an effort to compensate for the difference in tweeter height relative to my ears when seated, I removed the concrete pavers under my speaker stands. These are clearly visible on my virtual systems page.

When the new speakers were hooked up, I pressed "play" on my Jay’s transport remote and was immediately shocked. The sibilance was gone! I put the Silverlines back onto the stands and the sibilance was still absent. That was about two months ago and the sibilance demon has yet to reappear. Although I preferred the sound of the Silverlines and returned the other speakers, if it hadn’t been for them, I wouldn’t likely have solved this problem.

Perhaps my experience will help someone else. I was familiar with the maxim "everything matters" but I still failed to consider one "thing" that was sitting in plain sight the whole time I was tearing my hair out.

So, I will reiterate : "Everything matters" actually does mean every thing!

 

 

 

 

 

stuartk

"I endured sibilance for a long time. I'm far more familiar with it than I'd prefer to be. It hasn't returned since I removed the pavers. Why would I want to bring the pavers back?"

Too see if that was really the cause or was it some nebulous thing that somehow or other was failed to be considered and got changed as happenstance and it wasn't the pavers at all.

I would be more inclined to believe that it was the physical height of the components putting the tweeters slightly off axis, or such, making a difference rather than the material that the stands are made from.

When I make changes to a speaker, I will most typically go back and forth between what they are and what they were to see if the differences "stuck" or was it...??? 

So, I will reiterate : "Everything matters" actually does mean every thing!
 

 

^^^^  Actually, everything probably doesn’t matter.

And it’s probably just that mindset that led you to take

two years to figure out something that probably could’ve been solved

tith a tone control or equalizer or room correction (if not first

simply adjusting the angle of your speakers).

I haven’t read your previous accounts, but my guess is you were lead

On wild goose chases, Such as fiddling around with cables and 

all that stuff? 

@stringreen 

I experimented with toe-in as well as raising lower speaker and listening chair heights. While these experiments did affect sound-staging and tonality, I perceived no effect on sibilance. 

With the pavers out of the equation,using my original speakers, there is no sibilance and the highs are definitely not harsh -- that is one thing I cannot tolerate. 

 

@prof 

FYI, I did try an EQ.