Well, I've encountered threads where guys have said once they became aware of sibilance, they could never "un-hear" it. I've had sibilance before, but it went away after I removed concrete pavers from under my speaker stands ( I discovered this solution by accident, having swapped out everything else already in the system with no luck). And I mean, it went completely away for at least a year and only came back when I had the speaker crossovers re-capped. The speaker tech doesn't believe the re-cap is responsible, btw.
Sibilance has returned. What can I conclude?
- Thread starter bRnzBzh
- Start date
Agreed. If that were the case, then you would not have heard the same thing through your headphones.
Me thinks it has something to do with noise on the power not being thwarted. Your previous gear was able to do this. That is the only common denominator here, unless I missed something.....
Tom
Yes
Yes
Maybe can help, but that is not the root of the problem.
If I understand you correctly, it doesn't matter whether you're using speakers or headphones, the sibilance in the 3-6 kHz range is always present.
They are not just specific recordings but always present?
I'd would swap the RCA cabling and try different power plug polarities; perhaps there's a bug causing this exaggeration.
P.S
If it were just the speaker, I'd suspect reversed polarity. You said you recapped the crossover, so it's easy to accidentally reverse the cable polarity.
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Sibilance varies somewhat from recording to recording but so far, every vocal cd I've played displays it. Most importantly, cds I know well that did not display any sibilance before re-cap now display very evident sibilance.
I have a bnc coax digital cable between transport and integrated (same cable I was using before re-cap). No rca's. Sorry for my ignorance, but what do you mean by "try different plug polarities"?
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I could be 100% incorrect here, but given your case? I'll entertain it.
Are any of your cables directional?
Tom
Are any of your cables directional?
Tom
OK. You're using a Jay Transport with a BNC cable to the digital input of a Hegel amplifier. The capacitance of the digital cable plays a major role. If it's too low, the signal can overshoot, which can cause the problem described.
Exsample no clean square wave often occurs with short digital cables, just try a longer cable.
Regarding polarity, all devices have different grounding concepts. If you reverse the polarity (twist the Schuko plug in Europe) of the devices' power plugs in the socket, the sound can sometimes be very different, which can even lead to the overemphasis of certain frequency ranges.
P.S
I hope you're also using a 75 ohm cable. Here's an example of what the connector should
look like.
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Thanks for your suggestions. Apologies but I still don't understand what you mean by "reverse the polarity of the device's power plugs in the socket". The three-prong plugs can only go one way, no?
However, I've been thinking about the fact that my Synergistic Atmosphere SX Euphoria digital cable is 1 meter and silver. I bought it when my system was sounding dark (before I found out the crossover caps needed to be replaced).
Based upon the photos you provided, my cable appears to be 75ohm but I'm wondering whether a longer, copper cable might be worth trying.
I've heard good things about:
Absolute 75 SPDIF Digital Cable
The Acoustic Zen's Absolute 75 Digital is a true 75-ohm impedance coaxial digital cable made with zero-crystal ribbon copper.
www.thecableco.com
How much longer should I try? My components are not in a rack -- they're in a heavy built-in bookshelf unit and there's not a lot of room behind components. Would 1.5 meter be enough of a difference?
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What he means is switch the Live and Neutral connections in your plug, if you had a 2 pin plug it would be just a case of unplugging and turning the plug 180 degrees. Since you have a 3 pin plug, I would say don’t do it.
I couldn't see where you live, otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it. Then let's hope the power cable is wired correctly, the phase is in the right place of the three poles.
Hegel marked where the phase to be connected red point left side iec socket.
Yes, just try it to find out the cause of the problem or to rule it out.However, I've been thinking about the fact that my Synergistic Atmosphere SX Euphoria digital cable is 1 meter and silver. I bought it when my system was sounding dark (before I found out the crossover caps needed to be replaced).
Based upon the photos you provided, my cable appears to be 75ohm but I'm wondering whether a longer, copper cable might be worth trying.
I've heard good things about:
Absolute 75 SPDIF Digital Cable
The Acoustic Zen's Absolute 75 Digital is a true 75-ohm impedance coaxial digital cable made with zero-crystal ribbon copper.
How much longer should I try? My components are not in a rack -- they're in a heavy built-in bookshelf unit and there's not a lot of room behind components. Would 1.5 meter be enough of a difference?
Use a sommercable for test really good quality not expensive
Sommer Cable BNC Cable 75 Ohms 2m
FocusLine L Wordclock Patch Cable 75 Ohm, With Hicon BNC connectors, Length: 2m, Colour: green, Not HD / SDI suitable
www.thomann.co.uk
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My wife experiences it as "normal" sibilance. It doesn't sound different now to her than before the re-cap but it sounds very different to me.
It seems there is only one logical conclusion.
Just give the x-overs more time and it should go away.
I live in California. I'll borrow the A. Zen from The Cable Co. lending library and try it out...I couldn't see where you live, otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it. Then let's hope the power cable is wired correctly, the phase is in the right place of the three poles.
Hegel marked where the phase to be connected red point left side iec socket.
View attachment 152680
Yes, just try it to find out the cause of the problem or to rule it out.
Use a sommercable for test really good quality not expensive
Sommer Cable BNC Cable 75 Ohms 2m
FocusLine L Wordclock Patch Cable 75 Ohm, With Hicon BNC connectors, Length: 2m, Colour: green, Not HD / SDI suitable
Well, my tech says there is no way the caps are causing this. I couldn't find any consensus of opinion on this topic when I searched online. I know very little about it; you could be right.
If the sibilance occurred after the x-over change in the absence of any other changes I’m having a hard time to blame anything else.
From a personal experience i can tell you that a x-over burn-in has a profound effect on the sound, and depending on the components used could take hundreds of hours to settle.
bRnzBzh also said, he can hear the sibilance through headphones, so the recap has nothing to do with it. I don’t think burn-in on caps will take hundreds of hours. When I got my new speakers, it was meant to take 150 hours plus to settle down, I did not notice anything after about 29 hours. As far as I am concerned it was done by 29 hours.
My working theory is that that the crossover re-cap caused exaggerated sibilance in main system and once I began to hear it there, I became hypersensitized/hypervigilant and subsequently began noticing it everywhere else. In other words, "normal" sibilance everywhere else gets "magnified" in this psycho-acoustic process and is perceived as exaggerated. This is consistent with experiences other guys have posted online.
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