sibilance in system

@yogiboy

Thanks for that link. It’s a nice summary of what has been audiophile doctrine since, I dunno, the days of Peter Aczel. Yes, the author didn’t mention zenith angle, but nonetheless, I’m impressed that he or she realized that it’s rake, not VTA, that is a significant alignment parameter; and did point out the importance of tonearm bearings, which can certainly be more important than even cartridge alignment in affecting the reproduction of sibilant content.

The sad thing is that it’s impossible to properly set any of these angles reliably, even with a protractor, without a microscopic analysis of your cartridge. Cantilever and stylus angles, even on four- and five-figure cartridges, rarely are correct, and sometimes are so far off that a cartridge cannot be aligned at all.

I’m not just giving a Wikipedia opinion here. Check out some of WAM Engineering’s tutorials (and Mikey Fremer’s old AnalogPlanet articles) for details, documentation, & photographs. Lots of well-documented information at https://www.wallyanalog.com/blog and WAM’s YouTube channel.

FWIW, I’d wrestled with my own sibilance issues for a long time, since moving from vintage tube gear to a modern solid-state setup, and only this year do I think that I’ve finally solved the problem.

As is often the case with persistent issues like this, there were multiple causes. My $2000 "silver-coated-copper-but-doesn’t-sound-like-silver" phono cables did -- sigh! -- sound like silver after all. My "class-D-but-doesn’t-sound-like-class-D" amp still suffered from some classic Class D anomalies. And my $800 MM "tracks-as-well-as-most-moving-coils" cartridge simply did not track transients as cleanly as a Hana Umami! In retrospect, none of this should have been a surprise, but it’s easy to be influenced by the opinions of colleagues and the claims of manufacturers. Sometimes, there’s no way around rolling up your sleeves and simply experimenting yourself.

I guess this kind of logical problem-solving process is one thing that makes this hobby so addictive. When you finally get everything right, it feels like you’ve really achieved something.

does it only happen with records?   check your turntable setup if so.....or.....component mismatch, too much high frequency energy.

First, I was supposed to get email notifications of responses to this post.  I didn’t get any, so sorry for the late reply.  Thanks to everyone for their input. 
I think that this is a break in issue, I just need to give things more time.  Only about 75 hours on the speakers and less on the new cartridge.  Things are improving.  I did try repositioning the speakers a bit and it did not make much difference.  The problem was worse with digital (CD) playback and tube rolling to a less microphonic pair has helped.  Also the alnicos are a faster speaker than my old Mac hemps,  that might contribute to a perceived sense of sibilance.   I do like how the alnicos play acoustic music (classical, jazz, etc). Though I can see why they would not be for everyone.  The Zyx ultimate 100 is going through growing pains as well,  some times can sound very strange for a several hours.  Narrow part of frequency band just kind of “disappear” and then reappear.  Just purchased a lightly used Zyx UNIverse so we’ll see how a broken in cart with a boron cantilever sounds.
Lastly, I have sent about 200 records out to Steve at Perfect Vinyl Forever for cleaning and that has been a remarkable change as well.  It sounds crazy, but that service has made more of a sonic difference for the better than any tweak or upgrade I’ve ever tried. More of everything, detail, imaging, soundstage, timbre, I would never have believed it if I had not heard it myself.  On a wonderful recording of Aaron Copeland conducting his works celebrating his 75th birthday, the change was so startling that I actually jumped almost out of my chair.  I know it is expensive, and I would highly recommend giving it a try.  Even made a difference on new and records that had been well cleaned by other methods.

Yes… definitely need 200 hours on the speakers before getting serious about sonic flaws or about permanent positioning.

Glad you had such great results having your records cleaned. Good to know.