Killing sibilance distortion - VPI & Jubilee

Hi Wendell,

I bought the table new with the Shelter 901 cartridge, and had it professionally setup from my dealer.

There was sibilance distortion, which is why I bought the Benz and the Ortofon carts in the first place.

After I first installed the Benz, I went back to the dealer for them to check setup since I was still getting sibilance distortion. My azimuth was off a bit and they fixed that, but other than that they said setup was spot on.

Did you take a look at the setup pictures above with the Jubilee? I believe they accurately show how I had overhang/zenith/azimuth/VTF setup, but please correct me if it is unclear. The only parameters that I don't have documented by photos are VTA (currently level, but I've tried both tail up and tail down) and anti-skate, which as documented above I've tried various arrangements.

Do you see any glaring setup issues in any of the above photos?

If it is setup related, do you think it is weird that I get the same result with 3 different cartridges, all setup several times over 2 different alignment protractors?

I have actually gone back and forth with Mike, the lead tech at VPI, quite a bit over email. He has graciously recommended that I send him my arm and Jubilee cartridge for him to test. I am going to take him up on this, and see if I can come up with any answers.

The pictures don't help me. I think that sending the arm and cartridge to VPI is a good idea. I've owned many arms and cartridges over the last 40 years. In my experience, your problem has always been setup related. That doesn't mean it is in this instance but that's what I would bet.

You might consider sending him all the cartridges so they can check each one they know to be set up correctly.

Good luck.

Wendell

"Any dealer who does a setup and leaves it with sibilance isn't much of a dealer or setup expert."

For what it's worth, I agree... though at this stage, I am not convinced that this is setup related. I hope it is, as this means I don't need to spend lots of money to fix it!

What my experience is leading me to believe is that analog equipment, regardless of price, has its limits, and I am running into some of those limits as far as sibilance is concerned.

I have never had an analog front end that has required me to put up with sibilance. That goes for cheap to very expensive setups. Analog certainly has limits that one must accept. What you are dealing with isn't one of them. Perhaps there is something wrong with your arm. VPI can verify that.

Wendell