End of a long quest to vanquish sibilance.
As some of you are aware, I’ve spent nearly two years attempting to root out this annoyance, along with fatigue, from my modest system. No one knows just how frustrating this has been more than the handful of forum members who’ve provided numerous suggestions and insights along the way. You gentlemen know who you are and I’d like to thank you again for your ongoing generosity and camaraderie. Eliminating the source of fatigue (DAC) proved easier than the sibilance.
Having swapped out everything except speakers, with no impact on sibilance, I identified a pair of monitors that 1) I could afford, 2) are universally praised and 3) come with a refund policy. I figured this was the only thing left to try, aside from power conditioning.
When the new speakers arrived, I noticed they were a bit taller than my Silverlines so in an effort to compensate for the difference in tweeter height relative to my ears when seated, I removed the concrete pavers under my speaker stands. These are clearly visible on my virtual systems page.
When the new speakers were hooked up, I pressed "play" on my Jay’s transport remote and was immediately shocked. The sibilance was gone! I put the Silverlines back onto the stands and the sibilance was still absent. That was about two months ago and the sibilance demon has yet to reappear. Although I preferred the sound of the Silverlines and returned the other speakers, if it hadn’t been for them, I wouldn’t likely have solved this problem.
Perhaps my experience will help someone else. I was familiar with the maxim "everything matters" but I still failed to consider one "thing" that was sitting in plain sight the whole time I was tearing my hair out.
So, I will reiterate : "Everything matters" actually does mean every thing!
@steakster I know what you mean about the coffee table. My son is familiar with working in a recording studio and was convinced that I should try Dirac Live. So, we tried it. My room measured reasonably flat, so I didn't bother to buy it. At one point in the measuring process, we were getting a weird spike (or dip, I can't remember). I had my laptop sitting on a coffee table with the screen up. We closed the laptop and the abnormality went away. |
Thanks. Yes; I’ve tried covering the coffee table and I didn’t notice any sonic differences. Same story with draping blankets over the slate hearth/glass fireplace insert. I’ve experimented with this several times. As you can see, I have very limited potential locations for subs. Could you explain it in layman’s terms? |
@stuartk Great that you sorted it out. I would like to know what physics were involved in the cause though. |
I would, too but to be to honest, my focus has, so far, been on enjoying listening again. The fact that I had the same speakers, same stands on the pavers with different (less resolving) electronics and experienced no sibilance remains a mystery to me but I’m a music lover who enjoys good sound rather than a bonafide audiophile. I lack the technical background that might help me understand what is going on in terms of physics. |
Congratulations to you @stuartk for not giving up and continuing to try different things until you figured it out. Glad it worked out and you are back to listening to music once again |
