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Vinyl and slurring S'es

I have been listening to a lot of vinyl for the past for months and have been considering a new turntable. But I have a question. I have noticed that when listening to my vinyl the s'es sound "slurred". I'm not really sure how to put it any other way. This is with new and/or older records. My question is; is it the recording? Do I have something set wrong on my turntable (anit-skating, ect)? Or is it my electronics. I don't notice this when listening to CDs. I have several on CD and vinyl and the CDs are crisp and clear. I have had two tables in my system in the past two weeks and both do it; a Denon 47F and a Basis 1400 w/300 arm. On both tables was a Grado Sonata cartridge. I am using a Black Cube running into a Classe CP60. The amp is a McIntosh MC300 and Thiel 3.6 speakers. I really prefer the sound the vinyl gives but those s'es can really make it fatiguing sometimes. Any insight someone can give on this matter would be appreciated.

Thank!
Tim
mitcheft
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
just a tip for the cartridge:
benz cartridges i believe are the champions in longetivity and reliability. with proper handling they could play upto 15000 hours.
detlof
1,899 posts
 
Paulwp has said it all in my opinion. I would have told you exactly the same. Cheers,
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
The sound that you are hearing is formally known as "sibilance".
A number of good possibilities are mentioned above; may or may not be the issue here, so you'll have to experiment.
The cause may also be dirty/un-conditioned AC power, the wrong interconnects, high-level overloading of the phono input stage lineup, the wrong AC cord.
sean
6,229 posts
 
Paulwp hit it on the head. The more precisely that you set up a cartridge / arm / phono stage, the better the sonics and less wear & tear on the vinyl and stylus.

Also keep in mind that cartridge loading can drastically affect tonal balance and apparent sibilance. The cartridge loading is determined by EVERYTHING between it and the phono stage. This means your internal tonearm wiring, the interconnects and specific values inside the phono stage should all be taken into account when trying to calculate total loading values. Sean
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rwwear
2,692 posts
 
I agree that it is most likely the VTA. I prefer the arm to be slightly lower at the pivot. This usually increases bass output and smoothes out the highs. The tracking weight can also influence the top end as Paulwp stated. It is not always best to choose the lightest that the manufacturer recommends. Go for the middle range. It will cut down on record wear and mistracking.
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