I need help diagnosing a sibilant problem on vinyl

There many possible causes, including but not limited to:
- inadequate VTF
- sub-optimal anti-bias adjustment
- sub-optimal zenith alignment
- sub-optimal SRA (VTA) adjustment
- overload or shearing distortions in the phono stage
- dirty or damaged records
- inability of the Elys to accurately trace/reproduce HFs
- vibrations at certain frequencies exciting resonances in the cartridge body, tonearm or other components

Searches within the Analog Forum for "sibilant", "sibilants" and "sibilance" turn up 17, 6 and 66 threads respectively. There's already a wealth of information/opinion out there. Any one of the hundreds of posts on those threads might (or might not) provide a solution to your problem.

Truth be told, reproducing sibilants cleanly, especially on inner grooves, is one of the most difficult challenges for a vinyl setup. I have a few especially challenging LPs that bring virtually any analog rig to its knees (and send people screaming from the room with hands over their ears). I've only heard these LPs reproduced cleanly a few times. It can be done, but not easily or cheaply.

Improper alignment.

Maybe you should check out my thread regarding Elys 2... Very sibilant on my system.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1378172724&openmine&zzLowrider57&4&5#Lowrider57

My problem may be a mismatch between cart and phonostage or the high gain of the Elys.

Are the Walls in your room close to the speakers on the sides? Without knowing your room description ..its hard to say. I get this in my room because its small..but I dampin about 20 degrees to the left and right of each speaker and this helps kill any ringing or harsh reflectance. Also, Cables are another thing to consider a bad cable can sound like u describe. I tend to take the easy route first and work up to the more complex fixes.Stylus tracking force and anti-skate are easy to check as well. Also,make sure the cartridge is not near any transformers from other equipment. I would check Grounding or consider running a ground from table to preamp. Table needs to be Perfectly level,check this at the plinth and the platter to make sure.Stylus or cartridge replacement might be in order if these others dont help.

I agree with all the above, and also add if the turntable itself is properly level on all planes and on a solid platform, and do use a record clamp to better couple the record to the platter.

Dougdeacon is it possible to get a list of those records that are hard to track.