smooth vocals

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Craig M.

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edam, i'd suggest that the sort of change to your kit that might get rid of sibilance that is on the cd, will mean you lose all sorts of detail. how can anything 'get rid' of distortion from a recording, without throwing a huge 'veil' over everything? either get used to it, stop playing those cds, or downgrade your kit to something that isn't revealing enough to let you hear it. imo.
 
edam said:
interconnect wireworld oasis 6, basic cambridge audio speaker cable

Try these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Chord-Carnival-Silverscreen-2x2-7m-unterminated-/160643293767?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item2567162247

And these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/CHORD-CRIMSON-PLUS-VEE-Interconnect/dp/B003NWTS64/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315063933&sr=8-1

The SilverScreen, contrary to the name is a copper cable. It is informative, yet doesn't have the almost 'tinny' sound of some silver strands.
 

jiggyjoe

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Maybe try some solid core cables, they are generally very smooth. A cheap test for this is to use some solid core twin and earth cable you use in house wiring.

I used this stuff when I was a teenager on some sony apm speakers from the 80's with horribly siblant titanium dome tweeters, it worked a treat :)
smile.png


What about you room acoutics? Do you have hard wall and floor surfaces or carpets, wall hangings etc?
 

CnoEvil

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IMO. Whether cables help will depend on how far away you are from your ideal. If you just don't like the Cyrus sound, the result could be an improvement, but at the end of the day, may still prove unsatisfactory......if you can borrow a handful of cables it's worth a try (avoid silver plated ones).

If you want to retain the detail, but need a little "richness", don't rule out a different amp (Class A/B amps suffer crossover distortion).

My advice is not to rule anything out and trust your ears.
 

matthewpiano

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Difficult one. If the sibilance is on the CDs I think you'll struggle to totally get rid of it. Sometimes you have to accept that an album isn't brilliantly recorded and listen through the sound to enjoy the music.

If it really upsets you a less revealing set-up might be the only answer. Cyrus kit is ultra detailed and open sounding and is going to expose flaws in recordings.

I think a trip to the dealer is probably in order. Take your kit with you and see if they can suggest some different combinations to try to address the issue.

I'd say it is unlikely to be the PMCs. I've heard them quite extensively and never found sibilance to be an issue.

It would be worth getting rid of that Cambridge Audio speaker cable though. It may not be doing the system any favours.
 

edam

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thanks again for the ideas. I do like the cyrus sound so I will keep the kit for now. will change the speaker cable and may be the interconnector. it might seem decadent but i may get a valve bassed cdp for my cds with vocals. i think its odd that leading artists should be making inferior recordings. ta for the advice, one and all- edam
 

Macspur

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Really don't think it's the recordings... just listening to Joni's Ladies of the Canyon right now and sounds fine.
You said you took the CDP to a dealer and tried it with other amp-speaker combos and still sounded distorted... suggests to me that it's the CDP. However, I'm sure you'll find a significant difference with the Chord cables.
 

BenLaw

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Craig M. said:
edam, i'd suggest that the sort of change to your kit that might get rid of sibilance that is on the cd, will mean you lose all sorts of detail. how can anything 'get rid' of distortion from a recording, without throwing a huge 'veil' over everything? either get used to it, stop playing those cds, or downgrade your kit to something that isn't revealing enough to let you hear it. imo.

matthewpiano said:
Difficult one. If the sibilance is on the CDs I think you'll struggle to totally get rid of it. Sometimes you have to accept that an album isn't brilliantly recorded and listen through the sound to enjoy the music.

If it really upsets you a less revealing set-up might be the only answer.

This must be right.

Edit: also right:

chebby said:
I don't think a lorryload of cables are going to sort this out. Experimenting with different gauges, brands and purities of copper and silver cables makes for a very expensive 'tone control'
 

bluebrazil

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i have an all cyrus system and can wholly recommend moving to solid core copper speaker cables to tame the treble slightly, the old mission cyrus cables pop up on ebay regularly. i do tho have a sneaky feeling that the 6xp may not be driving the pmc's properly giving an imbalance that makes the treble seem prominent. i have demo'd these speakers moving between one cyrus 8 power in stereo and 2 8 powers in mono and found that they liked the extra grunt.
 

Rethep

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I think some of the sibilance comes with the combination of the equipment. Some is in the acoustics (many bare surfaces like stone or even wood). Some is really in the recording. I have the same problem.

Two things help: 1. Accept some of the sibilance. You get used to it somehow. 2. Finetune acoustics or equipment. Another DAC might help but could also spoil some of the rest of the frequencyspectrum that you like. I don't think tubegear will help because it could even highlite this sibilance. Some damping of acoustics or toe-in of your speakers could help too.

Good luck!
 

altruistic.lemon

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God, must be mad. Working late last night now up at dawn listening to "Ladies of the Canyon" - think I need this day off!

The Joni Mitchell is a fairly hard recording anyway, plus old. What I hear (headphones as it's too early to wake the neighbours) on tracks like "For Free" is a slight blurring in the upper frequencies, but not really worrying sibilance, more like I'd expect from older tape masters that have degraded over time.

Do you have the re-mastered or the original? Mine's the original, which is possibly why the sound is a bit thin and there's the merest hint of loss of quality on the highs. However, you'd reallly need to listen for it, and it comes as no worse than on many an older CD.

If you are hearing high levels of sibilance, then it could be your gear is exaggerating that, as some have said. It could also be a problem with your speakers - did you listen to the same ones at the dealer? If the sibilance is no more than the slight blurring I hear, then you can either try a different pressing, or accept that quite a few recordings are less than optimal, especially of older masters.

Can't say more and can't listen any more, mate - the hardness of the production is giving me a headache!
 

edam

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:dance: thanks again for all the input.. I have also been listening to 'ladies of the canyon' again, with the volume raised the speakers turned in and sitting in prime position, and it sounded fantastic! at this volume the sibilance was a lot less aparent (or gone compleatly) to my ears...anyway it has stopped me thinking about me getting another cdp.
 

iQ Speakers

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To true i had to move the Leema from balanceing on the back of the sofa to a more appropiate place on the Side. Speaker cable were not long enough so i had to improvise and add 6M of Black and Decker mains cable as speaker cables (another story here!! i was going to add it to the ive upgraded my mains cable thread) But i moved the speakers and my soundstage went! i had to get a tape measure out in the end incredibal. Hows the back?

Cnoevil advise was spot on, i watched my mum hospitized for 6 weeks to try and fix just made it worse.
 
boggit said:
To true i had to move the Leema from balanceing on the back of the sofa to a more appropiate place on the Side. Speaker cable were not long enough so i had to improvise and add 6M of Black and Decker mains cable as speaker cables (another story here!! i was going to add it to the ive upgraded my mains cable thread) But i moved the speakers and my soundstage went! i had to get a tape measure out in the end incredibal. Hows the back?

Cnoevil advise was spot on, i watched my mum hospitized for 6 weeks to try and fix just made it worse.

really need a dedicated hi-fi rack. So much better than sofas or armchairs. They can be picked up dirt cheap - this is similar to mine

7567340356_9258d43f92_n.jpg
 

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