sssss, sound with speakers (1 Viewer)

[Dave_Whiting]

Hi, I recently bought some aad c-series speakers and a Harmon Kardon avr-220. On dvd's and cd's I notice that the s sounds seem to be quite harsh or exaggerated. Is this pretty typical or is something causing it. I have also noticed this on other peoples systems.

 

[James Bergeron]

It's probably a combination of the speakers / receiver.

When I bought my denon 4800 it did this same thing with my JBL N-series speakers. I thought it was the amp as they didn't do it with my previous receiver. Then when I changed my speakers it went away (I went to B&W 303's now Paradigm studio 40's). So it wasn't the speakers and it wasn't the amp it was a combination of both.

That's just my experience. Someone else might have a thought.

Oh and it could be the disc as well, there as some like Toy Story that have some bad sound that emphasizes this.

 

[Dave_Whiting]

Hi

 

[Geoff L]

I would agree also, that the combo is probley the cause..
Do they use a metal composite or metal hybrd type tweeter, or other, silk etc?
More than likely if brand new they will soften a bit over time, some brands/types more than others. But, don't expect it to be a night a day thing. It won't be!
Guess it's treble knob time till you either get used to them or change-out the Receiver or Speakers. The H/K Receivers are not known to be bright in gneral, so I would definitly test another brand/type speaker/receiver and see if this disapears...
If you have pre/outs & ins you could put a eq in line but that will add expence, and depending on the quailty of the eq, add noise and other issues. Then it's only going to cover at most (standard eq) 2 channels and require preouts and ins on at least 2 channels. Or tape loop for then just 2-channel music, PL and PLII. No DD DTS sources.
But the quailty of ADD just surprises me that this would be so evendent, the ssss push. And I certainly would not want to put anything in line like an EQ!
Edit:
For those unfamilar with ADD ad MR.Jones you might find this link interesting.
Regards
Geoff

 

[george king]

Dave,

How do you like the setup, the C-800s in particular?

Thanks

 

[Dave_Whiting]

the AAD c-800, seem pretty good. THese are the first speakers I have brought and didn't compare them to any other ones, so my opinon is pretty useless really. Also I don't really know what makes a good speaker etc.

They are a good price through and they are vey big which is cool.

 

[Dave_Whiting]

the AAD c-800, seem pretty good. THese are the first speakers I have brought and didn't compare them to any other ones, so my opinon is pretty useless really. Also I don't really know what makes a good speaker etc.

They are a good price through and they are vey big which is cool.

By the way the sss, sound isn't that bad just noticable. I almost think that the recording have it to a certain degree.

 

[Eric_Philips]

My paradigm cc-370 center has a similar issue (paired w/ a denon receiver) btw mine hasn't gone away.

Most the time it is not there, but sometimes during quiet dialog there will be a hiss when some one is talking, but it stops as soon as they stop, then kicks back in as soon as someone opens their mouth.

pretty annoying.

Any thoughts?

 

[DerekF]

Try flipping your ohm impedence switch on the back. I find with my Yamaha 2200, if the switch is set to 6 ohms, the speakers sound a bit harsh. They seem to sound better on 8 ohm (though that may be placebo)...worth a try though...

 

[LanceJ]

Hiss from speakers:
Hiss originates from the receiver (it's amplifier or Dolby/DTS/DSP processor).
Speakers can't cause hiss; they just reproduce what is being fed to them. JBLs tend to be rather bright sounding speakers and will reveal hiss more easily than most British or Canadian speakers.
Generally, the better your speakers are, the more chance you will hear the problems of the rest of your system. Unfortunately, this also includes the recording studio's and the movie company's recording problems :frowning: : a merely so-so sounding CD or DVD played on average speakers will sound just plain bad on good speakers (analog tape hiss becomes prominent; tape edits now obvious; distortion from overloaded microphones is now audible, etc.). But, the (fun!) flip side is that a well-recorded CD/DVD will now sound awesome like it's artist/engineer intended.
LJ

 

[Charles M Berry]

Generally, the better your speakers are, the more chance you will hear the problems of the rest of your system.

That is what I was told by my local Hi-Fi store. I was hoping someone would say something about this, becuase this thread started to scare me a little.

I have an HK 110 that I originally paired with Paradigm Titans with no "hisssss" or "sssss" problems. Then I upgraded my Titans to a pair of beautiful Paradigm Monitor 7v.2's. All off a sudden I was getting an amazing amount of hissss from the front speakers as soon as the amp was turned on. Having paid alot more money for the better speakers, I was concerned with this new bad-sounding noise, to say the least.

I was then told that my speakers are very sensative and that they basically magnify any background noise from the source material, like cd's. The better the CD, the less hisss. I found this explanation to be satisfactory because I had little to no hisss with DVD's, and the better CD's (remastered, higher bit rate) also displayed less hisss. I was also told I could turn down the treble nob, but I refuse to mess with treble/bass nobs!

I was worried that I had messed up my amp, or that my new speakers were somehow not that great. But, after the last post I think I can relax (again). The explanation is perfectly logical, I just wonder since most of us all have decent speakers, do we all suffer from this "hissss" problem?

 

[LanceJ]

A rough analogy for the hiss problem:
Your VCR's (remember those?) picture may look great on your old JCPenny 19" TV, but then you finally get that 27" Panasonic "Tau" series set and now you see all that tape-based medium's problems: scan lines, lack of detail, etc., etc.
See what I mean?
LJ

 

[Eric_Philips]

I should feel lucky to have such a good system that I can know hear every little piece of garbage in movies and music. I'm going to stop using Star Wars to show off my system and start using a VHS copy of the 85' Superbowl
Go Bears

 

[Dave_Whiting]

So what you guys are saying is that the sss sound of a s is always there, but bad recording make it more evident.

 

[James Zos]

I don't know if I totally buy this argument. Can't some speakers that are overly bright have a problem with s-sss -sibilance? Where high sounds tend to sound kind of scratchy?
I have Klipsch RB-5s and for the most part they're great speakers, but the highs can sound a little harsh. Then again, this doesn't happen all the time, and certainly not always with dialogue ...

 

[LanceJ]

Yes, some speakers do have sibilance problems.
But hiss is not the same thing. And sibilance can also originate in the recording itself. A excellent :frowning: example that almost made want to ask for my money back--and I'm definitely not the overly-picky audiophile type--is Emmylou Harris' album Wrecking Ball. It's actually an excellent recording except for the vocal track: it is horrible. Scratchy and grainy sounding. On every system in my home it sounds this way. I HAVE to turn down the treble control on my receiver to listen to it (thank goodness for tone controls!!!). And my speakers are Boston Acoustics CR9's with a 1" soft dome tweeter and damped with ferrofluid-no horns or metal anywhere.
But I also own the new Gordon Lightfoot greatest hits CD--all remastered tracks--and his voice is mixed directly up front and is quite loud, louder than Ms. Harris' album. But there is no sibilance I can detect even though his voice sounds very detailed & realistic.
If you want speakers that are absolutely merciless about revealing everything in a recording, your CD player, your amplifier, or your preamplifier/DSP processor, go buy a pair of speakers from Klipsch's "Heritage" line (the La Scala, Heresy, Belle Klipsch & the Klipschorn). They sound totally awesome IF everything else is done well-if not.....watch out!. http://www.klipsch.com/index.asp?pat...16&line=home&1
LJ