SSSSibilance

[bigwill]

Why do some recordings have so much sibilance? I'm pretty sure it's not my system adding it. I hear it on everything. Real life voices don't go SSssSs%^^&£%"£ and make your ears bleed, what is it about the recording chain that exaggerates it SO much?

[analog_sa]

Could you describe your system. It is probably responsible for a lot of the sibilance.

[soongsc]

normally cone resonances or impedance peaks in the upper mid ranges like around 3KHz

[jupiterjune]

I agree -- cone resonance.

JJ

[OzMikeH]

I've had it from an amplifier once,

[AndrewT]

Hi,
I suspect crossover distortion exaggerates sibilance, but just as likely it is reduced phase margin into capacitive loads that causes peaking and damped ripples on transients.

These HF artifacts then prompt resonances in the speakers.

[Salas]

Non well compensated amps ringing all the time or on transients, distortion in capacitors, resonances in cones and domes, non shielded cabling, some recording residuals, can all conspire to create sibilance.

[auplater]

Then there are the crappy recordings done by incompetent engineers and production firms that ruin the artists presentation.

I don't have cone drivers, (except the woofers), minimal xover components, and I've noticed a significant degradation in the quality of recordings over the last 10 years or so, even as the price of reproduced music continues to escalte.

John L.

[luvdunhill]

I second bad recordings... I get this with both electrostatic and dynamic headphone setups (i.e. crossover-less).

[Eva]

When recording voices, some people like to turn the trebble knob all the way up on the mixing console... Some condenser microphones tend to boost the top two octaves too.