SIBILANCE (a discussion)

What causes it? I’m talking vinyl playback here. I’m having what I think is a problem with it. Or maybe I’m being oversensitive. Is it inherent in the vinyl itself (i.e. does the vinyl pressing process have anything to do with it?)? Based on my research I know it’s related to VTF or VTA adjustments. I’ve been making these changes with some success. But how do most people solve the problem? It seems to me that it is related to vinyl thickness as well.

I'm on my second TT in less than 4 months (currently have the Marantz TT-15 w/ Virtuoso Wood cart.). I have analog in my blood again after more than 20 years of digital listening. I'm glad to be back.

 

Let's start with what sibilance is: It's the "S" sound. When you say "sweet", you have made a sibilant sound.

I see many music lovers complaining about sibilance when they're really complaining about sibilance that's been reproduced poorly, ie, it's raspy, harsh, overloaded, overemphasized, or distorted in some other way.

Anyway, no, it's not inherent to the vinyl. Often mistracking does major damage to the sibilants with vinyl, but it could also be the pressing (or recording) itself, an overloading phone preamp, or cartridge setup, etc.

I'd better let a vinyl expert tell you the rest; I play vinyl about once a year.

 

Microphone selection is also important. I am not an expert here, but I spoken to a few that say some mics emphasize silibance more. Also some singers have more pronounced silibance.

 

A bit of recording history: sibilants were among the hardest sounds to record via the acoustic recording system (i.e., horn-and-diaphragm, pre-microphones). Singers therefore routinely over-emphasized their sibilants when recording. Making a record in those days was an ordeal for all involved.

 

While problems with sibilance aren't inherent to vinyl, it's one of those things that almost anything in the chain can affect. It's also something to which the ear/brain hearing is very sensitive. (think of rustling and twigs snapping - that's what ears are for, to hear something approaching that might want to eat you).

So, perm any of the following: dirt on record, stylus, mistracking, vtf, vta, arm resonance, cable connections, amp noise, amp distortion, speakers wearing out, crossovers wearing out, something else in the room reflecting at a high/mid frequency...

The best systems control siibilant sounds very well. Problems here are one of the first signs of your stylus departing. (and there's a noticeable difference in sibilant sound reproduction between new, and 50 hours on a new stylus too. Been there done that.)

 

During vinyl playback, with the vocal centered in the mix, if the sibilance distorts and "splatters" into both channels, it's either your stylus mistracking or your playing back old groove damage from previous mistracking.

On the other hand, again if the vocal is centered in the mix, and the sibilance stays focused and centered and doesn't splatter out to both channels - in other words, it just sounds like a bright "s" sound - it's probably on the recording itself, not from mistracking or groove damage.

 

Well, I have learned some interesting things here, one being that my vinyl wants to eat me . Generally I dont have problems with sibilance, and if its mild, I usually wont care. The only times it really gets on my nerves is on HOT records, where the mids are loud on the record. I suppose these records are harder to track?

 

Mike,

...I haven't made a tweek in a couple of weeks and I have noticed that as the cartridge is approching 50 hours things seem to be quieting down. Thanks everyone for the great responses.

 

There is some natural sibilance in live speech and singing. I find that sometimes it is difficult to tell whether the sibilance reproduced through my system's speakers is natural and normal, or over-emphasized. The problem is that once your start listening for it, it becomes mentally over-emphasized. I do find it handy from time to time to play a CD and LP of the same recording. If the level of sibilance is the same, it is most likely in the recording (I know that it could also be the speakers, but that is fairly unusual).

 

Essentially the problem with sibilance on vinyl has to do with two things the physical characteristics of the grooves themselves and the fact that the RIAA curve requires that a very drastic treble boost be added to the master tape further compounding the problem.

Here is what Kevin Gray has to say on the subject:

 

For me, the easiest way to tell if it's from a mistracking stylus is to do a quick check with headphones. If the "s" sound seems to spread out to both channels separately (as if made by two people - one in the left channel, one in the right, each saying "ssss....") then it's more than likely mistracking or groove damage. Distortion on other high frequency sounds, like cymbals, can be a little harder to detect.

 

I actually love the sound of well reproduced sibilant sounds. The problem is that sibilance is very hard to reproduce. There are any number of places in the recording and reproduction chains where it can get messed up.

 

I've had interconnects that exaggerated sibilance. There are so many little things that can contribute.

 

Well, that was my point, poorly expressed perhaps. I get the impression that audiophiles think that sibilance itself is bad. It's not, course, it's a natural part of speech and music. It's only bad when poorly reproduced.

 

Sometimes it could simply be a compliance mismatch between the tonearm and cartridge. One such example I encountered: No matter what I tried, my Grado 8MZ cartridge sounded extremely sibilant (spitty), even on modest recordings when installed on my Linn Basik LV-X tonearm. Yet the same cartridge installed on my friend's Lafayette 4000 turntable sounded fine and as I would have expected in the first place. At that time, I installed an Audio Technica AT440ML on the Linn arm and it sounded excellent, without the spitty sound that the Grado had on that same arm. So the issue may be as simple (or complicated) as "right cartridge/wrong arm" or "wrong cartridge/right arm".

 

Even though I don't yet have a TT in my system, bad sibilance drives me crazy. Worse yet, I like listening to cd's of pre 1950's stuff and that source material can have HUGE levels of sibilance. I have worked hard to make a system that deals with top-end problems gracefully. Most of the best solutions involve filtering the power supply REALLY well. The best place to start is good AC line filtering between your gear and the wall socket and between each piece of gear. The cost conscious way to do this is go to an electronics surplus warehouse and start digging for ac line filter modules. Then splice these into AC line cords. I like Corecom brand but there are many others. I have not seen over-kill on the usage of these modules yet! Next I would look the preamp/s and start up-grading filter capacitors on the DC supply lines. For Electrolytic caps the easiest to get are Nichicon UPW from Mouser electronics. Most DC filter caps can be tripled (or more) in value for more stable filtering. Usually the capacitors in a CD player DAC supply lines are not top notch so I like to use something like Kemet UTRA DIP II as upgrades here. Then parallel every cap on the DC supply lines with WIMA MKP2 0.1 uf 100v/63v capacitors. Lift one leg of any rectifier diode and install a 2 ohm ½ watt resistor in series to reduce the RF burst called reverse recovery (trr on the data sheets). All of the electronic components I just mentioned can be ordered at sane prices from the Mouser catalog. And of coarse one needs to solder to do these mods. I know these things are not addressing the issue of the turntable but they will help with a much more graceful recovery when the TT (or CD player) spits.

Regards
Robert

 

All the above information is quite accurate and useful. Especially the point about distortion. There are some cartridge designs that excel at reducing distortion to very low levels. Sibilance drove me crazy, I bought such a cartridge and no longer is it an issue. One other set-up parameter is to keep your plater perfectly level.

 

If you are having sibilance troubles, the last musician you want to play is Al Stewart.

Even Alan Parsons had trouble taming his S's.

Of course, if you're not having sibilance troubles, go pull out Past Present & Future and revisit that awesome album.

 

A good read and informative. When I come across any sibilance all I need to do is adjust the VTA and presto....problem solved. Either it totally disappears or distortion is minimized.