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Kleos Sibilance

Hello Folks,

I posted this in a Delos thread but I thought I'd better start it's own thread.

I have a new Kleos in a JMW 9 Signature on a Scoutmaster. I am getting sibilance on vocals beyond what I have heard with either a Shelter 501 II or a VPI Ortofon on the same table. My dealer put the Kleos on the wand I had the VPI cart on. I have gone to 1.8g and did not solve it and I have checked the alignment. I brought the rear of the arm down as well. It may be less pronounced but it is still there. Otherwise the Kleos is quite nice. It has 3 or 4 hours on it now. I do not hear misstracking on high level passages, just sibilance and sometimes some grunge on male vocals. It is not on all vocals but it is fairly common.
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xrobob
theo's avatar
theo
2,660 posts
 
Robob, you make the statement "Not sure if was anything I did but I am hearing less of it". I assume you are referring to the sibilance? That is a good indicator that the Kleos is breaking in. I am listing to mine now and I swear it sounds better each time. Give the cartridge time to break in (at least 100 hours) before you drop any money on a new arm.
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syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
"Dealer Disclaimer"

Personally I think, Bill does it the right way. In a way he is "one of us" with a personal opinion/knowledge about something, sometimes he acts as a dealer. So what?
The other side are those "secret supporters" from dealers, supporters, manufacturers, because they get a good price ...

Unfortunately -based on the awful magazine reviews and everything which is connected to that - the dealers knowledge is often ignored. I don't share this, when someone survived until today, with analog gear, that is everything but easy in our time, I read his posts (there are others I don't read for example).
robob's avatar
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robob OP
197 posts
 
"Bill identified himself as a dealer in his first post in this thread. At the bottom of his post it says "Dealer Disclaimer". That seems pretty transparent to me, but English can be a funny language. "

Yes but many folks come into these things in the middle or later via searches. And he seems to have a strong anti VPI sentiment. I may be particularly cautious having sold Audio/Video in the past and know how some can be.

On the other hand, I plan to call him Monday.

Moving on, it may be breaking in but a few minutes ago on the first side (cart warmed up already) of Featuring Norah Jones the sibilance was quite pronounced on some cuts. I will probably try the dreaded anti-skate contraption and maybe a drop of dampening fluid if the sibilance does not abate soon.

What would you folks think of the 309 on Gyro SE? I really cannot afford to spend any more money but I cannot live with the sibilance. Sibilance is the reason some digital drives me batty. Not that anyone could tell.

Appreciate you folks helping:-)
dgarretson
2,588 posts
 
Agree with above comments that you should break it in longer before judgment. It is also worth checking to see if a change in effective mass affects the sibilance. Try weighting the headshell with a 5gm nickel & rebalancing the counterweight.
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