sibilance from my turntable

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danger boy
danger boy Posts: 15,722
edited March 2008 in Electronics
I have a new old stock 15 yr old Audio Technica series V cartridge and stylus on my table. and she sounds really good. highs are schweet. but every once in a while I hear some sibilance..... how do I tweak this out?
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,136
    edited February 2008
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    I was always under the impresion that the sililance was on the recording and had nothing to do with the gear.
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited February 2008
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    Hmmm? could be especially on vinyl, but not sure. this is the first turntable that i've ever encountered any sibilance on. I'm thinking the needle isn't set up correctly or something.

    I am also hearing a hum and buzz on the same Technics SL-M1 table, that I don't have on my Pioneer table.
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 35,522
    edited February 2008
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    Could be any of three things.
    1) intrinsic to the cartridge - I've found most AT cartridges to be rather "hot" sounding, to my taste.
    2) slight misalignment of cartridge (in any plane); check it carefully with a good protractor (even one of the downloadable ones is better than nothing). Vertical tracking angle (VTA) should be set properly, too, if it be adjustable.
    3) VTF (tracking force) might be set too low. The middle to high end of the mfgr's recommendation will almost always produce better sound, and less wear, than using the lowest recommended VTF.

    I'm betting on 2)

    EDIT: Some recordings are more sibilant than others, but it's not always intrinsic.
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  • bikezappa
    bikezappa Posts: 2,463
    edited February 2008
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    The sibilance you hear drove me nuts during all my TT days. I haven't used my TT for about 15 years but I never solved the problem. The sibilance was there on the first playing and got worse with each replaying. I have tried may TT and cartridges.

    It may be just part of the manufacturing process for records.

    Good luck
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited February 2008
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    it is definately following this Technics turntable.. as i mentioned, my Pioneer is about the same age and it's clean sounding. I wonder if the ground wire isn't grounding the table correctly.. because I'm also getting hum and a buzz.

    where would a hum and buzz come from on a TT?
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited March 2008
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    anyone know of why I would get a buzz from my Technic's turntable? i touch the ground wire to something metal and it lessens the buzz, but it's still there.

    it's very annoying, because I want to sell the turntable, but I won't until I solve the buzz problem. :(
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • amulford
    amulford Posts: 5,020
    edited March 2008
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    Sounds like the ground is bad. Check it carefully, maybe even resolder the connection...
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,136
    edited March 2008
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    danger boy wrote: »
    anyone know of why I would get a buzz from my Technic's turntable? i touch the ground wire to something metal and it lessens the buzz, but it's still there.

    it's very annoying, because I want to sell the turntable, but I won't until I solve the buzz problem. :(

    Al I just went through the same problem with my TT except I have a stepup transformer in line. It is definitely both a grounding problem as well as an IC problem.

    Make sure your ground wire from the tonearm has continuity. If it doesn't then you need to get a tonearm audio lead to replace it.

    In my case, the ground wire was fine but I was picking up the hum from the tube, transformer and power gear surrounding the wire. I was able to get rid of the hum trying various ICs but it also diminished the quality of the signal.

    At the suggestions of Joe Abrams from Portal, he recommended that I take the left and right channel ICs and wrap them eight twists around each other.

    The hum is gone.

    How I know the hum was being picked up from the surrounding equipment is that when I moved the cable around the hum would increase or decrease in intensity depending on its position. The further away from the gear and motor the less hum.
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  • MillerLiteScott
    MillerLiteScott Posts: 2,564
    edited March 2008
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    Joe, Is it the number of twist that make the difference?
    I like speakers that are bigger than a small refrigerator but smaller than a big refrigerator:D
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,136
    edited March 2008
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    MillerLiteScott wrote: »
    Joe, Is it the number of twist that make the difference?

    I don't know Scott but he specified eight and that is what I used and it worked. I haven't tried that with other ICs that get the hum but I am going to check it out to see if it does matter.
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