Annoying Sibilance Problem

Jaytea and Headsnappin are exactly right.

Axelwahl wrote:

A new recording by Mobile Fidelity... pressing by Classic?: Alison Kraus & Union Station "so long so wrong" side two 'It Doesn't Matter', and even worse 'Find My Way Back To My Heart' are close to unbearably sibilant in my system.

I've played THREE copies of this LP in my system. One was brought over by a friend. The other two were mailed to me by fellow A'goners. They were convinced the recording or the LP was flawed because of high frequency distortions ("unbearably sibilant") when played in their systems. Just like in Axelwahl's.

All three of these LP's played perfectly. This LP does have very extended and fairly complex high frequencies. Close miking combined with a reverberant recording space make tracing and reproducing those HF's a challenge, but with the right equipment and setup it can be done, with beautiful and lifelike sonics.

I have other LP's that contain even more difficult sibilants. One in particular is my acid test. Only 2 or 3 sytems that I've heard will play that LP cleanly, but that also can be done.

It can't be done easily or cheaply. It can't be done with a Grado, thanks to its bludgeon of a stylus. But there's nothing wrong with that Allison Kraus LP.

I've tried adjusting the table to no avail. I'm starting to think it's the cart/stylus. I may bring the albums over to Goodwins and toss it on their table with the Goldfinger... That should tell me if it's the album or not.

Silvergsx,

Switching your preamp to mono may be helping in two ways:

1. Many preamp mono switches act as HF rolloff filters, so HF problems simply become less audible.

2. Summing to mono may prevent distortions resulting from L and R information that's at the same (high) frequencies but every so slightly out of synch or phase with each other.

It is VERY difficult for an amplification chain to cleanly reproduce two (or more) similar or identical waveforms that should be marching along as individuals, so to speak, without "glomming" them together into a distorted mess. The higher the frequencies and the greater the amplitudes, the tougher it is for the system to keep all the separate waveforms separate. Blending to mono before amplification begins greatly simplifies the job (and the music, naturally).

Your Grado is unquestionably part of the problem, but your amplification from phono stage to power amps may (or may not) also be contributing. Best guidance IMO is to try a more resolving cartridge first, to see how far it gets you and whether or not you like the new direction.

I was going to accuse the Grado as well based on past experience with older, lower cost models, but its been a while, so I decided no.

Wouldn't expect that with a more modern higher cost Grado though still. I have never heard that particular cart set up properly for certain so can't really say still.

What would you guys recommend for a more resolving cart? I'm going to be buying a p5 table this summer and love the idea of the 3 point mounting to assure it's aligned properly for the Rega carts, but the Apheta is out of my price range.

Would the Exact 2 or the Elys 2 be decent alternatives to the Grado?