A touch of brightness

[Womaz]

I know a lot of the music I listen to may be badly recorded but I am finding my system a little too bright at times. A bit of sibilance in female voices for example.
My system is below . I have demoed and ordered the Melco N1A but this did not help with this issue
Is this just a price I have to pay for liking to hear the detail in the music.
I always thought it could be my speakers maybe, but since buying a really good HP amp and HP, I have also noticed it in this. My dealer thinks maybe some grounding , but to be honest when he let me listen I did not hear a difference
I am wondering if there is anything I can do in the set up, maybe the 200 configuration?
Just looking for some guidance

[completeluxury]

have you ever done measurements of your speakers in your room to see if your room is the issue?

[Womaz]

Would not know where to start with that. I am presuming you dont mean how big my room is. My dealer thinks adding a rug or two may help, as the room is minimalistic style, wooden floors etc.

[thumb5]

This might sound like heresy, but: have you considered using the tone control to apply a bit of treble cut to help reduce the sibilance?

You can use the configurator to set the frequency at which the treble control operates - I'd guess you might want to start with something around 5 kHz.  Then you can select the amount of treble cut using the remote control (documented in the manual for the 8.1 firmware).  It will probably take a bit of experimentation to discover what combination of frequency and cut best controls the sibilance.

I haven't done this myself so I don't know how much detail you might lose - the cure may be worse than the disease.  Anyway, there's nothing to lose by trying it, apart from time.

[Womaz]

This might sound like heresy, but: have you considered using the tone control to apply a bit of treble cut to help reduce the sibilance?

You can use the configurator to set the frequency at which the treble control operates - I'd guess you might want to start with something around 5 kHz.  Then you can select the amount of treble cut using the remote control (documented in the manual for the 8.1 firmware).  It will probably take a bit of experimentation to discover what combination of frequency and cut best controls the sibilance.

I haven't done this myself so I don't know how much detail you might lose - the cure may be worse than the disease.  Anyway, there's nothing to lose by trying it, apart from time.

The only thing I tried was reducing the treble , ie adjusting it to -1 on the main Tone Control. It did not appear to make a great deal of difference. The more I adjusted I definitely lost the brightness, but also felt I lost a little clarity

[Pim]

A rug is a good start.
Have a look at your speaker set up and where your ears are.
Set up your speakers a little closer to each other. You might think that will have a negative effect on sound stage but when you've hit the right spot the sound stage will actually open up. turn them out a bit.
Hang something on your side walls where the highs might be bouncing off (imagine a line from your tweeters to the wall and then your ears and you've found the spot.
Have a go at tilting your speakers or (easier) changing the hight of your ears.
What's behind your ears? Can the highs be bouncing off the wall behind you?
The best music is a female voice and trying to get the depth in that voice. You should be able to hear all the way down to the bottom of her lungs

Here's the most important thing; Don't give up. Your equipment has the capacity to sound great. You don't need to buy any more stuff. If it doesn't sound right, it's the room or the set up. Only if you believe in that you will find your way to great sound. Don't underestimate how much time is involved though. It can take days to get it right but it's worth it.

Good luck!

[Womaz]

A rug is a good start.
Have a look at your speaker set up and where your ears are.
Set up your speakers a little closer to each other. You might think that will have a negative effect on sound stage but when you've hit the right spot the sound stage will actually open up. turn them out a bit.
Hang something on your side walls where the highs might be bouncing off (imagine a line from your tweeters to the wall and then your ears and you've found the spot.
Have a go at tilting your speakers or (easier) changing the hight of your ears.
What's behind your ears? Can the highs be bouncing off the wall behind you?
The best music is a female voice and trying to get the depth in that voice. You should be able to hear all the way down to the bottom of her lungs

Here's the most important thing; Don't give up. Your equipment has the capacity to sound great. You don't need to buy any more stuff. If it doesn't sound right, it's the room or the set up. Only if you believe in that you will find your way to great sound. Don't underestimate how much time is involved though. It can take days to get it right but it's worth it.

Good luck!

Very helpful thanks. I sit 9ft from the speakers, cant change this apart from getting closer maybe. The speakers are only 6ft apart and are toed in.
My ears are at the level of the Driver.
The side walls I dot think i can do anything about. one is a window approx 14ft from my listening position, the other about 10 ft away and includes a wooden door to my kitchen.
The wall behind me could be a major factor then, it is about 1 to 2ft behind my head. I am not really willing to consider like hanging rugs on the back wall as would look awful. The hifi is in my living room and the room still has to look good.

[Womaz]

Just to add I also feel it as a tad bright with HP too, so room not affecting this. I also definitely have a touch of tinnitus, probably due to loud gigs and too much loud music

[f1eng]

How is the intelligibility of speech in your room?
I have never heard good sound quality (or intelligible speech) in a minimalist room. Carpets and curtains are essential IME. I have both, with one carpet hung on the wall opposite the full height curtain on the French window. I also have CD racks breaking up side reflections on one side of my room and LPs on the other. It looks cluttered but sounds much better than plain walls.

[Womaz]

How is the intelligibility of speech in your room?
I have never heard good sound quality (or intelligible speech) in a minimalist room. Carpets and curtains are essential IME. I have both, with one carpet hung on the wall opposite the full height curtain on the French window. I also have CD racks breaking up side reflections on one side of my room and LPs on the other. It looks cluttered but sounds much better than plain walls.

Good point, conversations on TV can be hard to hear at times but thought that could just be my 52 year old ears
Some experimenting today and a few things did tame the treble. Speakers not toed in, made a big difference as did placing the speaker nearer the back wall. Also reducing the treble by -5
However in all cases i lost other things. Vocals for definite were less prominent, they did lose a bit of the sibilance. Also felt the soundstage suffered.
Curtains will now be drawn , I live in top apartment and never shut them but may in future. Sounds like rig could make a difference , but i don't bloody like them, I like the minimalistic look. Funny though as the daughter been wanting me to get a shaggy rug for ages.

To be honest I am just starting to thank that as this is the best system I have had, it may be just that I am now noticing the bad recordings.

Had Beck - Mornimg Phase on before and it sounded bloody awesome.
I have started to listen to female country singers a lot more and this especially can sound brittle, voices sharp