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Killing sibilance distortion - VPI & Jubilee

Hello,

Along with what others have posted in the recent past, I also have a long running case of nasty distortion on sibilants with my vinyl playback. It is worse in the inner grooves.

To build on some other recent threads about this topic, I ordered a MFSL that is supposed to be a good test for mistracking. I have made a recording clip of my playback playing some of the last track on Side 2.

I have the recording on this link:

Playback Recording

If you take a look at that, we can all be on the same page with what exactly is going on.

The setup is a VPI Scoutmaster table, JMW9 sig arm, Ortofon Jubilee cartridge. The table is leveled on a Salamander Archetype rack. VTA is set with the arm parallel. VTF is set to 2.4g. Alignment is setup with the MINT arc protractor, 10x magnification. The VPI mechanical Anti-Skate is being used, with the lighter rubber washers. Azimuth is level by means of the "VPI straw trick" (a straw in a groove on the headshell).

Is there anyone that can point me in the right direction to fix that sibilance distortion you're hearing on the recording?

I've tried quite a few things, including different cartridges, and VTF, VTA and antiskate settings, but the sibilance is always there.

Here are some photos of my setup:

Cartridge Closeup

Aligning with the MINT

Thanks for reading
by Goatwuss
goatwuss
axelwahl
788 posts
 
You guys are killing me with YOUR non-distorted sibilants --- like Daffy Duck :-)
dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Bill,

If those other carts aren't in your line then why not share your experience for the OP's benefit? Surely you must have learned something useful in all those centuries...

Thanks for the youth compliment by the way.
Boomer disclaimer
goatwuss OP
877 posts
 
Hey guys,

I just wanted to give a quick update... as is visible from my "zenith" picture above, azimuth was off a bit. I fixed that last night, but I haven't listened yet. I'm going to recheck alignment also one more time on the MINT and then check to see if the sibilance distortion has improved at all. The cartridge is a hair too far to the right from being parallel in the headshell. If no improvements are made with this, the next step is to try the VPI jig, and following that, the benz cart. I'll keep the thread updated as I go.

I'll pull another recording with the benz cart, so at a minimum we'll all have an objective comparison between the 2 carts.

Dcstep - Yes, I have listened to this song in a digital format. There is no sibilance distortion on the digital recording. I will post a clip from the digital recording for comparison sake, and it does not take golden ears to hear the difference. Thanks for the contribution, however it is definitely not my vinyl setup being "clearer" with this, it is a problem that needs to somehow be fixed.

Bill - LOL love the humor. thanks for chiming in, and for the ideas exchanged via email some time ago. As you can see, I'm still trying to nail this one down. ;)
axelwahl
788 posts
 
Hi Todd,
keep it up man! It will be one of the more interesting things to see how it all will end :-)
Axel
goatwuss OP
877 posts
 
Hi,

So I had a chance to play with things a bit more last night.

First of all, here is a link to the same song coming from a digital source:

Digital Sound Clip

With this, you can hear the hard "s" sounds as they are recorded, but there is none of that scratchy distortion that I get with my vinyl playback. This is the goal!!!

I went ahead and switched to the VPI jig to setup the alignment. It's pretty tricky to get good, accurate setup pictures... but here's my best attempt:

Overhang

Notice that the cartridge is quite a bit further back in the headshell with the VPI jig.

Zenith / Azimuth

Looks pretty good to me...

So after making these setup changes, I went ahead and listened to the vinyl track again... and there was unfortunately no change to the sibilance distortion.

Here is a new recording of my vinyl playback setup now with the VPI jig:

Analog still has sibilance

So... given that I have changed alignments, and changed azimuth, yet the situation remains unchanged, is it fair to conclude that this is not setup related?
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