Annoying Sibilance Problem

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?

Obviously the Grado isn't only the brand you can play with and experiment. Purchasing P5 might not solve the sibliance problem or even make it more revealed which none of us know for now.
Jaytea has the right point of steps you should go through to resolve. I'd only add to check stylus/cantilever wear.

I have the same Allison Krauss pressing on Mobile Fidelity, and I have tried playing those same tracks on three diferent turntables with three different cartridges, one which cost several thousand dollars, one costs about $1700 and the other a Rega, about $400.00. Only the Rega in an inexpensive system was able to navigate these tracks. I wonder if it is because this system is so less revealing? This one record has caused me to try everything I can think of over the past several months as I assumed the problem has to be with my system and not the record.

Silvergsx,

You need to tell us about your phono stage and its gain and impedance characteristics before anyone could recommend a cartridge. Might be wise to start a new thread (or search old ones) for that. In general, as several have stated, a line contact or micro-ridge stylus will provide a quantum leap in HF clarity and reduction of inner groove distortion.

I agree with Marakanetz that a P5 may not be an upgrade vs. your present rig, though it will certainly be very different.

Ugabevo,

Those are interesting results. Your speculation that the least costly system played that LP most acceptably due to lower resolution may be correct, in a general sense.

Was the amplification in that system entirely or primarily solid state? Were the tweeters a soft dome type? Were the interconnects and speaker cables either very entry level and/or shielded? Was the TT driven by a rubber(y) belt?

Any of the above can contribute to the smothering of subtle harmonic information. They often don't so much distort HF harmonics as simply bury them, leaving a clean but often colorless presentation. Strong fundamentals but little individuation of instruments and voices. I could name names, but I still have a few friends left here. ;-)

A system that's good enough to pass most HF harmonics but isn't quite good enough to do so without distortion might easily sound worse. Frustrating hobby we got here...

I think there is no absolute answer to this problem. The only way to get around it is to try different options and see what works well. The reason why i said this is that I have a few jazz/female vocal discs that exhibit this problem, and it took me months trying to fix it, including re-alignment, changing tone arms, cartridges, turntable, preamp, amp...after consulting with various reputable dealers, users, reviewers, and each of them gave different answers, and different solutions work for different situations.

Regarding Ugabevo's experience, I do encounter it recently as well. My Audio Technica AT33PTG cartridge has a extremely small stylus tip, and with its high compliance, when mated with a low mass arm (SME 3009), it tracks extremely well. Never exhibits a trace of sibilance distortion when playing those problematic discs, but it does show that on those problem-causing passages, the sibilance is heavily emphasized (maybe due to pressing or recording..i dont know).

On the other hand, a Stanton 681 EEE MKIII with a japanese Shibata aftermarket stylus (bought from LP gear) has a much larger tip, a bit less compliance, when mated with a medium mass arm (rega 250B with techno weight & Pete Riggle VTF adjuster) also track those discs ALMOST as clean, but it is a little less smooth or resolving.

My Lyra Helikon has a tip size somewhere in between the AT and the Stanton. On my Phantom is very detailed, but it CAN have a hint of distorted sibilance once in a while.

I did try different combinations of these cartridges and tone arms, but these combos works best together.

So there you see, perhaps with different stylus tip masses, shapes, different cartridges ride different portions of the groove, hence behave differently , and compatibility with tonearms also effect how a cartridge performs.

If you try all these options, i am sure you will at least find one solution that works. But keep in mind that there are so many aspects that can effect analog performance so you might not cover them all at the same time..--> Dont drive yourself crazy!! Just look at it as a challenge ..hehehe..(at least now i look at it that way).

After all these problem, I still prefer listening to LPs though.