Thanks Avanti1960. Great points well taken. My Ortofon Cadenza Bronze is probably due for a retip. Even though I have meticulously kept the stylus clean and my records pristine and 99 % of my records have very little pops it might need to go to a cartridge specialist. I’m sure I have 1500 plus hours but from what I’ve read the Shibita stylus lasts longer than most other designs. I do have 3 other cartridges that have about 1/2 their life left. I kept switching for different sounds. The Ortofon black and the dynavector 20x2 and Shire M97 with an SAS stylus upgrade all have their own sonic signitures. I just looked for a stylus replacement for the new Ortofon Black and it’s $799!!!!! Verses a retip on a MC around $450. However the Ortofon Black is suppose to be an upgrade from the original. Thanks again for everyone’s opinions. We have a great group of dedicated audiophiles here that we all can gain a wealth of knowledge from. Happy spinning, streaming or data retrieval from an aluminum disc.
My battle with sibilance.
At the minimum sibilance is annoying to me. Its only present on a small percentage of my records. However today I wanted to see if I could improve it. The song in question is Men at Work's "Down Under". The cartridge is an Ortofon Cadenza Bronze retipped by Soundsmith. I went through a lot of the protocols for abating annoying sibilance.
1.My anti skate was not optimally set so I thought and I adjusted to less using a dead spot on a test record. I know some people don't agree with this. I tried Soundsmiths method but until I see a video I won't understand it.
2. I adjusted my VTA to at least 20 degrees. I realized it was off. It was set at 12-15 degrees. I know the Shibata stylus is sensitive to VTA.
3. I checked the VTF and it was set at the manufacturers suggestion at 2.5 grams. Which is dead in the middle of 2.3 to 2.7. I adjusted to 2.62. A lot of people think the higher range is optimum.
3. I made sure my stylus was absolutely clean.
Guess what? After all this, the sibilance was less but still there. As a check I listened to the song in streaming and it was in the recording!!! However not as bad as my record before my TT adjustments. So I'm happy now my TT might sound better on other recordings. Anyway I hope my fellow members here have had some success on sibilance and maybe some will benefit from what I did.
1.My anti skate was not optimally set so I thought and I adjusted to less using a dead spot on a test record. I know some people don't agree with this. I tried Soundsmiths method but until I see a video I won't understand it.
2. I adjusted my VTA to at least 20 degrees. I realized it was off. It was set at 12-15 degrees. I know the Shibata stylus is sensitive to VTA.
3. I checked the VTF and it was set at the manufacturers suggestion at 2.5 grams. Which is dead in the middle of 2.3 to 2.7. I adjusted to 2.62. A lot of people think the higher range is optimum.
3. I made sure my stylus was absolutely clean.
Guess what? After all this, the sibilance was less but still there. As a check I listened to the song in streaming and it was in the recording!!! However not as bad as my record before my TT adjustments. So I'm happy now my TT might sound better on other recordings. Anyway I hope my fellow members here have had some success on sibilance and maybe some will benefit from what I did.
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- 68 posts total
- 68 posts total