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 think we can all agree, given the OP’s evidence, that the single one entity causing sibilance, was the use of concrete pavers under the speaker stands. If that is the case, then some quality of the installation must be responsible. I have my own speculations, but does anyone have any specific, um, concrete explanation as to the cause of this effect? I’d love the opportunity to be on-site to find the answer.

@immatthewj 

I'd rather not disclose the make/model of the speakers. They are very highly regarded, as is their builder and I have no desire to raise any doubts about either. Based on what I've read, I'm very much an outlier in terms of how they sounded to me in my room. 

@noromance 

I don't know whether this matters but, due to weight considerations, I actually had two pavers, butted up against one, under each stand. The pavers were textured, so there was a bit of a gap between each pair. 

 

 

Maybe this was asked, but if you put the pavers back where they were, does the sibilance return? 

@sls883 

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? 

@stuartk  I just thought that it would confirm that it was the pavers causing the sibilance.