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What is the cause of my sibilance problem?

I have been fighting a sibilance problem for about a year. I thought I had it beat but it is back. I've tried cleaning and treating all connections, acoustic foam treatment at first reflection points on side and front walls and ceiling, different interconnects, speaker position, and even a different digital front-end. The problem manifests itself as extremely harsh 's' sounds in both male and female voice. I am beginning to wonder if I need to have my hearing checked - I tried headphones and hear the same problem. Well, here is my system:

Aiwa XC-37M CD-changer
MSB Link DAC III with 24/96 upsampling board
B&K Ref. 10 preamp
B&K AV6000 poweramp
Paradigm Reference Studio 60 Loudspeakers
Hsu Research VTF-2 powered subwoofer
Signet center channel
Atlantic Technology surrounds
Sennheiser HD580 Headphones
Home Grown Audio Super Silver interconnects
Monster Cable subwoofer cable
Ted's Excellent Cable speaker wire (mains)
Kimber 4TC speaker wire (surrounds)
Mapleshade Brass cones, weights, and cork/rubber feet
Michael Green 5-shelf Audio Rack.

A Television, the subwoofer, and the Audio Rack sit between the louspeakers; which are approximately 7' apart and 7' from the listening position. My room is highly irregular and ASC claims that $1200 in acoustic treatment is the answer to my problem. I'm not saying they are wrong. But, having experienced the same problem with headphones (and acoustic foam not alleviating the problem one iota) I am beginning to wonder...
gallaine
detlof
1,899 posts
 
Gallaine, after what you say now, I doubt that the front end could be the culprit. Nightdoggy might indeed have a point, with RFI being the culprit. Then also a bad solder joint or a loose connection somewhere comes to mind, but then I think you said that you had switched and experimented with cables. Experimenting with your preamp is probably your next best bet. I wish you the best of luck. The fight against this kind of nasties can be very exasperating. Please let us know of your progress!
Regards,
rfj
43 posts
 
Check to see if the problem persists w/o DAC. If it does not then you have jitter. See Sonic Frontiers for a solution.
sol322
426 posts
 
Gallaine:
Please update what has happened with this
gallaine OP
114 posts
 
Sorry about the silence. I haven't had much opportunity of late to try some of the suggestions posted. My deadline at work is the end of week - hopefully I can take off this weekend.

One thing I did try was to change the "mode" from direct stereo to several others. Interestingly, the problem was significantly less in surround. I am beginning to wonder if the problem is my loudpseakers. When voice is routed to the center channel the sibilance goes away - or seems to.
gallaine OP
114 posts
 
Update:

I disconnected the Aiwa from the MSB Link III and connected my Sony DVD player to it. After trying both coax and optical connections the problem wasn't solved. I am, however, better able to characterize it. The sibilance is most noticeable in words that begin or end with "s" as opposed to having an "s" in the middle.

I also opened up the MSB Link III to ensure that the upsampling board hadn't been knocked loose. It wasn't. But I did discover something that was a little disappointing. The upsampling board plugs into two rows of pins in the middle of the "main" board. There is a tall capacitor under one corner of the board that prevents the sockets from sitting flush i.e. it isn't completely seated.
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