hissing sibilants


I'm having trouble with this hisssssing "esses" and sssibilantsss.
I have a Pro-ject RPM9.1x TT + 9cc tonearm, Lyra Delos cart and Electrocompaniet ECP-1 phono stage.
I may blame it on:
- alignment, namely VTA (it's set just correct, i.e. arm is horizontal, but some say Delos "likes" to be a tad higher than the tail of the arm, is that true ?)
- load impedance: ECP-1 does not allow regulations, they say it does all by itself; yes, but how, and what's most, which load is it set at ? I don't know.

what's your opinion ?
thanks, ciao
daniele_g
I have a Delos and if you're having sibilance issues, it's definitely not the cartridge. As others suggested, do you hear sibilance on all records, or only some? Just to give you an idea, I have a few pressings of "Synchronicity" by The Police and one of the copies is unlistenable because of sibilance, while the other sound great.

If you're having sibilance with vocals on all records, I'd check the VTA to make sure it is in fact neutral, which is actually tricky to get, and if it is, lower it just a bit to see whether you can hear a difference.

However, I suspect your phono preamp is not the best match for the cartridge for a few reasons. The manual for the Electrocompaniet phono preamp states "Gain 1 KHz Moving Coil (source impedance = 10 ohm)," which would be very low if it is in fact input impedance. I have my Delos loaded at 200 Ohms, but I've heard of others who have it loaded anywhere from 100 to 500 Ohms with good results, but 10 ohms is certainly too low when loaded directly into the MC input. When I first got my Delos, I called the Lyra distributor to inquire about the loading, and the person I spoke with said that loading it at 5-10 ohms would "kill it" (his actual words). (It would of course be different for a step-up transformer.)

Further, the gain for your unit is stated as 73 dB, which is WAY too much for the Delos. Your line preamp's gain and your speakers' sensitivity also come into play here, but from my experience, a gain over 60 dB kills this cartridge (my words). At an output voltage of 0.6 mV, the Delos does not need more than 55 - 58 dB of gain at the phono stage level to perform its best. When I switched gain on my phono preamp to 63 dB, the sound became strident, shrill, and overall unpleasant. It did not matter much when I lowered gain on my line preamp; the sound was just not right until I lowered gain on the phono preamp. In fact, it sounded like serious sibilance amplified to an uncomfortable level. At 73 dB, I cannot even imagine how aggressive and un-musical the sound must be. Something to think about.
How do you know its not something else like a metal tweeter? If the problem really is with your TT setup, how old is the Delos? Phono cartridges sound awful until they are fully broken in.
Btw, it is sort of obvious, but did you also check that your cartridge is properly aligned otherwise? You only mentioned the VTA, but even more important is the overhang, azimuth, proper offset angle, etc. I'd start there to exclude an improper set-up as the cause.
I think you need to adjust the VTA by ear. It is very difficult to get the optimal VTA alignment by just looking with the naked eye. Select a record with plenty of silibant sounds and adjust until it sounds right. If you have the same recording on CD that will give you a benchmark, so you are not trying to adjust something that was recorded too hot.
agree about the phono stage....it is the most forgotten art of vinyl, that you have to find the best match for your cartridge (either loading it properly or the best match step up transformer....)