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What is the cause of my sibilance problem?

I have been fighting a sibilance problem for about a year. I thought I had it beat but it is back. I've tried cleaning and treating all connections, acoustic foam treatment at first reflection points on side and front walls and ceiling, different interconnects, speaker position, and even a different digital front-end. The problem manifests itself as extremely harsh 's' sounds in both male and female voice. I am beginning to wonder if I need to have my hearing checked - I tried headphones and hear the same problem. Well, here is my system:

Aiwa XC-37M CD-changer
MSB Link DAC III with 24/96 upsampling board
B&K Ref. 10 preamp
B&K AV6000 poweramp
Paradigm Reference Studio 60 Loudspeakers
Hsu Research VTF-2 powered subwoofer
Signet center channel
Atlantic Technology surrounds
Sennheiser HD580 Headphones
Home Grown Audio Super Silver interconnects
Monster Cable subwoofer cable
Ted's Excellent Cable speaker wire (mains)
Kimber 4TC speaker wire (surrounds)
Mapleshade Brass cones, weights, and cork/rubber feet
Michael Green 5-shelf Audio Rack.

A Television, the subwoofer, and the Audio Rack sit between the louspeakers; which are approximately 7' apart and 7' from the listening position. My room is highly irregular and ASC claims that $1200 in acoustic treatment is the answer to my problem. I'm not saying they are wrong. But, having experienced the same problem with headphones (and acoustic foam not alleviating the problem one iota) I am beginning to wonder...
gallaine

Showing 4 responses by sol322

sol322
426 posts
 
Gallaine:
Please update what has happened with this
sol322
426 posts
 
Gallaine:
If the DAC is the problem, direct feed your CD output to your preamp. If the sibilance goes away there you have your answer.
Kelly's question about what happened that made it return is very worth to think about....

Do you have your gear (specially transport and DAC) on their standard feet? Cones?
What is your audio rack shelves made of?
Do you have any power treatment in place? It is not listed in your system description.
Please some more info that could provide more hints on this. Luis
sol322
426 posts
 
Gallaine:
My question regarding the use of cones is a key one.
Please advise which brass cones from Mapleshade are you using and how specifically you have them set in your CD player and DAC. Where and how are the cones positioned?
Do you have one of the cones at the rotation axis of the disc? Are they point up or point down?
This cone detail has a great doing with overly enhanced highs in my experience.
sol322
426 posts
 
Gallaine:
Have you tried different IC´s?
Might not be the case but worth trying... I recall a friend of mine who had this situaton with silver IC´s I´m not familiar with your brand though.....
After you solve this or if you want to take a break I can give you some interesting tweaks for your amp. Just for kicks why not you change or swap power cords with your amp to see if this lessens the problem, it might provide you a pointer....
Don´t give up!!
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