Vinyl sibilance - your advice

Yeah they said they will try and source one to demo.

I also want to demo the Rega Aria which is built for the Rega cartridges.

It isnā€™t when reviewing your commentsā€¦
Anyway, like I said best of luck
:+1:

Because I am not sending letters in triplicate and contacting my payment authority? There is a point where I think one has to accept the consequences of a purchase. If the item was faulty or I was willfully misled during the sale it would have been a completely different matter.

I had an issue many years ago ā€¦ when Rega Planar 3 ā€¦K9 cartridge had sibilenceā€¦I found that cartridge bolts had worked looseā€¦I tightened them bingoā€¦solvedā€¦just a thoughtā€¦

That definitely something I can check. Thanks!

I found they needed to be really quite tightā€¦be careful not to put strain on arm bearingsā€¦I sure someone can advise hereā€¦

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Your description that some records donā€™t exhibit the sibilance problem is very significant (assuming they contain vocals with the ā€˜sā€™ sound). Also of relevance is that several at least of people responding here have not detected a sibilance problem on the clip you posted, and that your dealer didnā€™t consider the sibilance any worse than normal, or than he would expect.

To me it points in one direction but rather different: given your sensitivity, maybe vinyl is only for you with some LPs, and not all, and you will have to choose your records based on their sibilance.

I suggest one thing worth investigating is whether the sibilance is as bad on all pressings of a recording, or if it varies by pressing, meaning that if you keep trying different copies you may find one OK.

Canā€™t see how the Phono can be blamed.

Thats a point ā€¦ I remember being driven nutsā€¦by the track ā€˜diamonds on the soles of her feetā€™ this track had some nasty sibilenceā€¦at one point. Years laterā€¦my streamer plays this track ā€¦ an guess what its still there. My streamer has no sibilence issuesā€¦so for fact its the track recording. Another one is Rebecca Pigeon ā€˜Spanish Harlemā€™ she sings to begin with and you can hear some sibilenceā€¦then instruments cut in ā€¦ then she sings againā€¦this time sibilence is totally goneā€¦I am convinced she either changed position or the mixing guy tweaked somethingā€¦

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This could very well be true as well. I have just not investigated this far enough to be satisfied that this is the way it is. Until I have tried a properly matched up phono and a cart with a a finer stylus I will be in investigation mode.

That is also something indeed. However, the song I have placed the recording off on this thread I happen to own on two different vinyl pressings, the album and a greatest hits, so this is also significant I think.

I remember reading something somewhere about the capacitance setting. Rega recommends 1000pF for the Ania. My phono can only do 475. And the way I understood it is that the capacitance has something to do with buffering high frequency interference or something like that. So it is something I would like to try at some stage, run the cart exactly as Rega recommends.

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I also recall from when I had a vinyl collection that sibilance worsens over time as discs wear.

Its not ideal but really you should take the deck to the dealer and test it in the shop against a reference turntableā€¦using the same discā€¦

Well the dealer already brought his deck and phono to my house and it was exactly the same result.

I rest my case.
No one on this forum will ultimately help you resolve your issue, it will be down to the dealer who isnā€™t giving you satisfaction and Rega.
Its possible there could be some rogue samples out there. In any case I dont believe Rega would bring a product to market that has the issues you describe when set up correctly.
You can adopt the good old British stiff upper lip attitude and do nothing, itā€™s your money, or go round in circles on forums and throw more money at the problem.
FWIW Iā€™ve heard a P6 Ania in an all Rega system at my dealer and wouldnt describe it as sibilant, Iā€™ve just had a look back at a few reviews and not seen it described as having a sibilant characteristic, far from it.

Hmmmm

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Btw dont as someone has suggested start messing with the mounting bolts or anything else, you may end up in invalidating warranty ( or at least give the dealer a get out excuse)

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Oh I am not doing anything wild to that deck. But a check for something obvious loose exists in the realm of possibilities.

All of which the dealer should be doing for you

Is he/she a bona fide Rega dealer?

Yup.