What are the causes of Sibilance?

admin — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 19:59:47 +0000

Sibilance can be caused by many aspects of analog vinyl replay.

It is important to determine if the problem relates to a small amount of recordings, or many records, and the condition of those records. If it is only a few recordings, then sibilance is often casued by a bad recording, bad pressing, or damaged records. A NEW record, played ONCE with a worn stylus, WILL aquire sibilance. A poor pressing or a damaged record will absolutely result in sibilance, and since the amount of high frequency and the mastering process differs dramatically from one record to the next, it can be difficult to determine if sibilance is the result of the mastering, the recording, record condition, or the playback device.

ONLY If sibilance is detected on a broad range of recordings, then one can point to something other than the records themselves. Troubleshooting is always "divide and conquer" to get to the root problem. Sibilance is one of the more challenging things to solve for the novice. I will list the issues from the most common to the least:

Worn stylus/damaged stylus
Fouled stylus
Low end styli (conical)
Improper antiskating (PLEASE FOLLOW OUR INSTRUCTIONS - DO NOT USE A TEST RECORD)
Improper azimuth (far more critical as styli become more esoteric in shape)
Improper VTF
Bad tone arm bearings
Improper resonance (many causes, including tone arm, failed or badly engineered or damaged cartridge)
Very bad SRA

Item 1 - Requires inspection by someone with proper knowledge and optics. Badly worn styli will damage records with ONE PLAY and cause permanent sibilance on the record.

Item 2 - Mandates careful cleaning with isopropyl alcohol – especially for suspected badly fouled styli, or the Soundsmith OCL* stylus design

Item 3 - ….well, nothing to be done except replace cartridge. (Conical styli will have more at end of record)

Item 4 – Very common problem – please refer to Soundsmith website for proper setting

Item 5 – Very common cause with more esoteric styli - especially the Soundsmith OCL* stylus design. Major problem for arms that don’t have azimuth adjustment. If suspected, make MAJOR changes one direction and the other to rule azimuth in or out as the cause, (see website for how to change azimuth for arms that don’t have azimuth adjustment)

Item 6 – Easily measured, except that certain scales (electronic) can have very bad interaction with stray magnetic fields from certain cartridges. ALWAYS space the cartridge UP from the measuring platform with plastic box or the like (1” high min). Do not “undertrack” by using too low a VTF. MAKE CERTAIN that if you are measuring VTF on a tone arm that uses an underslung counterweight (like VPI) that you measure the VTF at the exact height of the platter PLUS one record thickness or you will get WRONG READINGS.

Item 7 – This happens far more often than one would like to realize – and very hard to test or “feel” play in bearings. Unipivots can have damaged bearings that are hard to see unless a microscope is used.

Item 8 – Hard to pin down, experiment with major mass loading to try to rule out cart/arm interaction

Item 9 – Set incorrectly when cart was installed, bad Stylus Rake Angle from factory, collapsed MC suspension, far too much VTF (sometimes caused by metal platter and MC carts being magnetically pulled down)

The challenging thing is that sibilance can be caused by one or MORE of the above items. Going through each one as best as one can often results in minimizing or elimination of sibilance.

The OCL styli design is used in the following Soundsmith designs: Hyperion, Helios, Sussurro, Mezzo, The Voice, Sotto Voce, Aida, and Norma.
The OCL stylus looks to be raked back by about 20 degrees, but that is the shaft of the stylus ONLY, and NOT the last facet on the bottom tip, which restores the angle to 2 degrees. This stylus has a flat back, and can tend to build up debris easily on its back surface, and should be cleaned via the Blue – Stik method described on our website on every play. Alcohol should be used ONLY when this cleaning process is suspect of not removing the debris. The Azimuth setting of this stylus design is very critical, as incorrect setting can result in sibilance and excessive groove noise.

Topic Tags

cartridge maintenance

Record Care

cartridge installation

Product or Service Category

Cartridges

Modified Cartridges

Tonearms

The Alto tone arm - Designed by Frank Schröder

admin — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 17:15:37 +0000

The Schröder ALTO Tone Arm -

Lets talk EXCITEMENT!!!

Many audiophiles around the world know about Frank Schröder and his tone arms. Many folks wish they could own one. But the demand is high, and the supply is....well.....Frank hand builds each one. So waiting to get yours can take some time.....but not anymore.

Frank and I have had a very good friendship over the past 10 years, and have had many discussions about audio and the design of varied products. He recognizes that I am a kindred spirit, developing new ideas and products for better performance. It was Frank that asked me years ago what materials I had "on my list" for experiential cantilevers for cartridge designs. When I got down the list to #3, and I said "Cactus spines" he said "STOP! Where are you with this attempt?" I said it was on the back burner.

He said "MOVE IT UP TO THE FRONT. I have just put some in the mail to you".

Who knew? Frank is a cactus aficionado. He grows them, talks to them, plays music for them, you get the picture. When the Cactus spines arrived, and I tested them, I was stunned. SO MANY cartridge performance problems solved. Thank you Frank for "needling me". And for being the impetus for helping me create the Soundsmith Hyperion cartridge. Now you know how it was born.

Well, thank you Frank again, for trusting me, and Soundsmith to build your new ALTO arm.

The Alto (Asymmetrical Loaded Topology) is a unique arm design Frank has given to me exclusively to manufacture by hand and sell. And boy are we excited. What does the ALTO sound like?? It sounds like all Frank's arms.

It makes no sound at all. That is the true measure of Audio Arm engineering. It MUST not get in the way of the performance.

How long will it last before it starts wearing out or losing its performance tolerances? Like all Schröder arms, the answer is......never.

So stay tuned ~ we are working hard carefully making and fitting parts for the early production runs now.........so that we can have your Schröder ALTO tone arm ready for you by the late fall.

We are taking orders now. The ALTO sells for $7499.95. Feel free to call and ask for Peter Ledermann. He'll be glad to tell you more about the ALTO.

http://www.schroeder-tonarme.de/

Specifications

more information coming soon

MSRP (USA)

7,499.95