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Kleos Sibilance

Hello Folks,

I posted this in a Delos thread but I thought I'd better start it's own thread.

I have a new Kleos in a JMW 9 Signature on a Scoutmaster. I am getting sibilance on vocals beyond what I have heard with either a Shelter 501 II or a VPI Ortofon on the same table. My dealer put the Kleos on the wand I had the VPI cart on. I have gone to 1.8g and did not solve it and I have checked the alignment. I brought the rear of the arm down as well. It may be less pronounced but it is still there. Otherwise the Kleos is quite nice. It has 3 or 4 hours on it now. I do not hear misstracking on high level passages, just sibilance and sometimes some grunge on male vocals. It is not on all vocals but it is fairly common.
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audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
I've had 3 Kleos here in the past year and none of them took anywhere near 100 hours to settle in. Perhaps 30 at the most. Your ears are acclimating to the cartridge more than the cartridge is changing.

The VTA/SRA is really quite simple and not nearly as complex as other moving coils. Delos and Kleos are designed so that the top surface of the cartridge is parallel with the record. Very little adjustment beyond that is necessary.

The key parameter, as Robob indicated, is VTF. This is where the user needs to focus. There are noticeable differences in the 1.68 to 1.75 range.

IMO
myles_b_astor's avatar
myles_b_astor
134 posts
 
Well as they say, YMMV.

I haven't found a cartridge that isn't sensitive to VTF,esp. near its optimal value. That is brought out even more by the Soundsmith Counter Intuitive where one can very easily adjust VTF in 1/100th of a gram in no time at all.
robob's avatar
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robob OP
197 posts
 
Myles, I will keep breaking it in. Need to add up the time on it. What do you folks do, say 40 min/lp times # of lps played? And yes, it really is actuating the sibilance. As an example the Featuring Norah Jones on a Dorian/JMW 9T did not have the sibilance. I am very familiar with most of the other stuff I have played on the Kleos. Some of it is stuff I have been playing for 35 years or so. Oh, I believe I am getting the extremes.

Tonight I have been playing with the VTA, it is sensitive to that, you can easily loose the magic. I will check it via Bill's method.

Nolitan: In some thread, someone said the Kleos has more goodness than the Delos. More detail, etc.

Enjoying the conversation.
syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
I agree with Audiofeil, I had all Lyras, and none of them needed 100h to settle in.
robob's avatar
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robob OP
197 posts
 
Hey Folks,

"Try weighting the headshell with a 5gm nickel & rebalancing the counterweight."

Did the Blu-Tack to the headshell trick. It did help. Still too much sibilance but it is better. Also, it has dampened things a bit which was needed. This makes since as we have a VPI headshell weight on the wand with the Shelter.

Do I have it right, the Gryo is the one you have to start by hand or is that the Nottingham?

Y'all got no opinion on the Sota?

Hope your Moday is going well,
Robert
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