2. analog
  3. 133781-46

Gonna have to ditch the Soundsmith Carmen II

I've given this cart the benefit of the doubt and then some, but it's going to have to go. 

the sibilance on s's is just to much. The sound isn't distorted, just way louder than the rest of the vocals. This happens to one degree or the other on all records with vocals. Sometimes it's barely noticeable sometimes it hard to bare. other than the sibilance I love the sound, I love the live nature of the music.  so I hate getting rid of it. 

So so the things I've done and made sure are dead on:

alighnment - that means SRA, VTA, TF, Azimuth, anti skate (per,SS), platter level, checked mounting hardware, checked tunntable . . .etc

my Denon 2x20L doesn't do this.

it may be there is a bad combo with some piece of equipment or loudspeaker and it just doesn't jive with the rest of the rig. 

My system:

VPI prime
Parasound JC3+ Phono pre
PAD phono cables
Decware integrated SET tube amp
Zu Omen Def MKII with Radian tweeter upgrade. 

So the question is what cart, around $1k will give that live dynamic sound, tracks well, but does emphasize the S's?

ones I'im interested in but have no way of hearing:

Ortofon Quintet Black
Audio Technica ART 9
???


last_lemming
kevemaher's avatar
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kevemaher
98 posts
 

@helomech Your recent post is the first time that I've read that the alignment can affect the sibilance. I know of course that alignment determines how the geometrical distortion is distribulte on an LP.

I have sibilance problems with some LPs. I exclusively use Lofgren A alignment.

Can you explain how the Stevenson alignment reduces sibilance?

Thanks.

kevemaher's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
kevemaher
98 posts
 

@helomech Your recent post is the first time that I've read that the alignment can affect the sibilance. I know of course that alignment determines how the geometrical distortion is distribulte on an LP.

I have sibilance problems with some LPs. I exclusively use Lofgren A alignment.

Can you explain how the Stevenson alignment reduces sibilance?

Thanks.

lewm
13,108 posts
 

There should be no or very little effect of any sort of geometrically proper alignment (Stevenson, Lofgren, or Baerwald) on sibilance, assuming the cartridge is at least close to any of these or any other standard alignment algorithms, in my opinion. What can affect sibilance is VTA or SRA. Or VTF, when VTF is too low (or too high, I guess) and the cartridge mistracks.

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