Records with words with the letter S are slurred

Ha-ha. There has been a veritable torrent of responses and suggestions, whilst the OP is probably off doing something more useful (to him). I say, let this thread die until we have more info.

As you might surmise from the responses so far, just about anything in the reproductive chain can in one way or another cause sibilance. It's difficult to analyze the cause from afar, but can you say whether you hear sibilance with CDs? If not, that would more or less let the speakers, the amplifiers, and the linestage of your preamplifier off the hook. That leaves the phono section or phono stage, turntable, tonearm, cartridge (or tonearm/cartridge match), or the LP itself.

Then, can you say whether you hear this phenomenon on all LPs, or only a few?