sibilance in system

You may be too close to the tweeter axis.  Try reducing the toe-in,and/or moving the speakers closer together.

Also, of course, check your room for recent changes. Sibilance is often caused by too any flat reflective surfaces.

Hi -

What are your thoughts on your main speakers ... the Omega Super 6 Alnico floor standers?  Omegas take forever to break in.  

The Omegas are praised for how well they do vocals, yet I never warmed up to the Alnicos.  I have owned a number of Omegas over the past 20 years and thought that the Super 7 MK2 were the best of their line.  

Rich 

Lowering the VTA (SRA)might be a good place to start! That always worked when I had a sibilance problem!

https://www.sound-smith.com/faq/what-are-causes-sibilance

Not sure if this might be indirectly helpful but I own a pair of the Omega Super 7 mk2 noted above and they have no sibilance issues driven by a 6L6 SE amp.  Wonder if a call to Louis might be helpful on how the Omega Supre 6 Alnicos compare in regard to the problem you are having.

Cables, tube rolling, and strips of 1/2" felt around the tweeter in a star pattern helped in my case. Specifically, Furutech FA-as22 between the pre and the amp, and Tung Sol 7581A outputs, but YMMV.  It's always about synergy.

Play the setup (without changing anything) for another 100+ hours.

Never heard Omega's, bur have been using wide-band single driver speakers for 20+ years and even NOS from the 50's/60's need @ least 100/200 hours to sound like they WILL sound.

The drivers typically have an extremely low Xmax rating considering the frequency range they cover and it takes time/use to loosen up their stiff surrounds.

This seems to be the case with foam (Lowther et cetera) VS paper surrounds as well, which I don't understand, but it is what's reported.

All of my single drivers have folded paper surrounds which is the type that I believe Omega uses as well.

Mixing/changing things up during a new component break-in period just complicates achieving a solution to the issue(s) you are attempting to remedy.

DeKay

This is a very common problem. Our hearing is very sensitive at 3 kHz. Most of the time if you turn the volume down the sibilance goes away. Our ear's frequency response changes with frequency. Google Fletcher- Munson to learn more. 

The only piece of equipment that can make this better or worse is the loudspeaker. You can sometimes change the frequency response of the system by changing the toe-in of the speaker. Early reflection to the side and rear of the speaker can make this worse, deadening those areas can help. If you like to listen at louder levels you have to be able to EQ the treble down. I put a filter at 15 kHz with a very small Q. I can move it up and down with volume to compensate. The BBC uses a notch filter at 3 kHz creating what they call the Grundy curve which neutralizes the sibilance associated with female voices, violins and horns. 

You will be wasting money turning over equipment randomly. The best EQ is digital. If your system is all analog Schiit makes a nice little analog EQ unit. 

@yogiboy

Thanks for that link. It’s a nice summary of what has been audiophile doctrine since, I dunno, the days of Peter Aczel. Yes, the author didn’t mention zenith angle, but nonetheless, I’m impressed that he or she realized that it’s rake, not VTA, that is a significant alignment parameter; and did point out the importance of tonearm bearings, which can certainly be more important than even cartridge alignment in affecting the reproduction of sibilant content.

The sad thing is that it’s impossible to properly set any of these angles reliably, even with a protractor, without a microscopic analysis of your cartridge. Cantilever and stylus angles, even on four- and five-figure cartridges, rarely are correct, and sometimes are so far off that a cartridge cannot be aligned at all.

I’m not just giving a Wikipedia opinion here. Check out some of WAM Engineering’s tutorials (and Mikey Fremer’s old AnalogPlanet articles) for details, documentation, & photographs. Lots of well-documented information at https://www.wallyanalog.com/blog and WAM’s YouTube channel.

FWIW, I’d wrestled with my own sibilance issues for a long time, since moving from vintage tube gear to a modern solid-state setup, and only this year do I think that I’ve finally solved the problem.

As is often the case with persistent issues like this, there were multiple causes. My $2000 "silver-coated-copper-but-doesn’t-sound-like-silver" phono cables did -- sigh! -- sound like silver after all. My "class-D-but-doesn’t-sound-like-class-D" amp still suffered from some classic Class D anomalies. And my $800 MM "tracks-as-well-as-most-moving-coils" cartridge simply did not track transients as cleanly as a Hana Umami! In retrospect, none of this should have been a surprise, but it’s easy to be influenced by the opinions of colleagues and the claims of manufacturers. Sometimes, there’s no way around rolling up your sleeves and simply experimenting yourself.

I guess this kind of logical problem-solving process is one thing that makes this hobby so addictive. When you finally get everything right, it feels like you’ve really achieved something.

does it only happen with records?   check your turntable setup if so.....or.....component mismatch, too much high frequency energy.

First, I was supposed to get email notifications of responses to this post.  I didn’t get any, so sorry for the late reply.  Thanks to everyone for their input. 
I think that this is a break in issue, I just need to give things more time.  Only about 75 hours on the speakers and less on the new cartridge.  Things are improving.  I did try repositioning the speakers a bit and it did not make much difference.  The problem was worse with digital (CD) playback and tube rolling to a less microphonic pair has helped.  Also the alnicos are a faster speaker than my old Mac hemps,  that might contribute to a perceived sense of sibilance.   I do like how the alnicos play acoustic music (classical, jazz, etc). Though I can see why they would not be for everyone.  The Zyx ultimate 100 is going through growing pains as well,  some times can sound very strange for a several hours.  Narrow part of frequency band just kind of “disappear” and then reappear.  Just purchased a lightly used Zyx UNIverse so we’ll see how a broken in cart with a boron cantilever sounds.
Lastly, I have sent about 200 records out to Steve at Perfect Vinyl Forever for cleaning and that has been a remarkable change as well.  It sounds crazy, but that service has made more of a sonic difference for the better than any tweak or upgrade I’ve ever tried. More of everything, detail, imaging, soundstage, timbre, I would never have believed it if I had not heard it myself.  On a wonderful recording of Aaron Copeland conducting his works celebrating his 75th birthday, the change was so startling that I actually jumped almost out of my chair.  I know it is expensive, and I would highly recommend giving it a try.  Even made a difference on new and records that had been well cleaned by other methods.

Yes… definitely need 200 hours on the speakers before getting serious about sonic flaws or about permanent positioning.

Glad you had such great results having your records cleaned. Good to know.