ribbons vs domes and sibilance

I'd prioritize the causes of sibilance by first, electronics, then room acoustics, cabling and lastly the speaker.  Back in the day I found that mid priced phono cartridges had that hifi clarity and crispness but at the expense of increased sibilance.  I wanted to blame my speakers.  Then I bought a high end phono cartridge and one of the differences I found was that the highs were smoother and sibilance was gone.  I still had that crisp, clean clarity but no sibilance.  

Fast forward some decades and I have found the same truth with digital.  Changing out cables or dampening the room can reduce sibilance but at the sacrifice of clarity.  I found a better DAC was the best solution to eliminating sibilance.  Still have that clarity and crispness but the fatiguing "SSSS" is gone.  Didn't have anything to do with the speakers.  Sure, a few recordings are out there with a hot mic but even those are much less irritating than before.

Interesting subject. I have had aluminum domes that were good (Elac and Celestion) and great fabric domes by Scanspeak in several speakers, and I have to agree with a previous poster that sometimes the sibilance that is blamed on the tweeter is actually the tweeter revealing a peaky microphone used during the recording.

That said, I think that implementation is the key, and there have been advances of course. My current speakers use the Scanspeak beryllium tweeter, and I have to say that it is the best I have owned. No exaggeration of the treble, just pure and clear with great dynamics.

@tonywinga 

Can you say more about the dac factor?  For example, which dacs were involved?

I ask because I'm currently using the internal AKM dac in my Hegel H390. AKM dacs are not, so far as I've read, usually regarded as peaky. I did sell my Aqua La Voce because it was fatiguing, but this did not reduce sibilance. 

@roxy54 

Interesting. There seems to be much divergence of opinion re: beryllium tweeters. 

@stuartk 

Yes, there is disagreement. I heard a speaker a few years ago with a beryllium tweeter, and even though the treble was very clean and dynamic, it was a bit to prominent for my taste. Then last summer I bought a used set of speakers with the scanspeak beryllium tweeter and it was balanced correctly with the rest of the spectrum, and it ir very good.

A driver’s inherent traits are only one aspect of it’s end performance. As mentioned by at least of couple of folks, how something is implemented is critically important. So everything "depends".

There are pros and cons with every single choice. Speaker designers are inevitably faced with "pick your poison" options (sometimes multiple times), then have to figure out the best methods of dealing with that choice.

IMHO, sibilance and over brightness are far too common, and it’s one of the most annoying aspects of many systems. Many things can cause sibilance. From the range that a given tweeter is used, how it’s crossed over, where it’s crossed over, the parts it’s crossover with, it’s output level, frequency response, wires, connectors, baffle reflections, etc. Many times tweeters are simply too bright because of too much output...sometimes by choice so a speaker stands out in the show room, and sometimes because the designer perceives it as more detail. Other times, it’s those subtle nuances that are so difficult to measure or prove in an A/B test, or a more complex combination of things.  True vividly clear treble requires a lot things going right upstream from the tweeter...many simply settle for treble emphasis and mistake it for clarity.