Upgrade your Bluetack.

I've just swapped out the Blu-Tack under my ProAc DB3s for a set of Herbie's Dots. Very cost-effective upgrade IMO. See https://forums.naimaudio.com/t...ts#61824863840162105

Ok I've been using these for a few days now and have noticed that a degree of sibilance has crept into the sound 

and as always...as soon as you notice it the more you notice it

i am going to remove the pads tonight and see what happens (as in go back to blu tac)

By some weird cosmic coincidence, I recently bought some new stands, initially used blu-tack and now have audio serenity pads in place!  Seemed to be OK, but now you've said sibilance I will have a closer listen.  Blu-tack did have the advantage of really gripping the speakers tightly whereas the audio serenity pads could slip off.

I tried these below my 109’s

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Son...t-of-8-/302200632758

Didn’t  heard any improvement

The sad thing is ...I did hear an improvement in presentation with the audio serenity pads..but also noticed on a few tracks ( eg Florence and the machine) an increase in sibilance.. removing the pads and going back to blu tack has reduced this noticeably..but the sibilance is still there slightly (and probably always was) just now I'm noticing it more

Japtimscarlet,have you tried moving your speakers ,i have Russell k 100s and found moving them back nearer the back wall had a good effect on the high end and damped it down a bit further folward made the treble a bit over bearing,only a thought .

Or try playing with the angle of toe in?

My audio serenity are staying place, no sibilance for me. Perhaps it depends on the recording too.

keith waring posted:

Japtimscarlet,have you tried moving your speakers ,i have Russell k 100s and found moving them back nearer the back wall had a good effect on the high end and damped it down a bit further folward made the treble a bit over bearing,only a thought .

Thanks for the good advice

I'll speak to my dealer tomorrow and see if he has a take on it ...but will also try a little speaker tweeking if needs be as well.

I'm sure it does depend on the recording...if there's no esses there's no sibilance ...but I like female vocals and words beginning with S ... .so I need to sort this

I can hear the effect to an extent though my headphones ....on the phono output of the NDS ...so I'm a little worried it's caused by my cheapskate option of using my XPSdr instead of a 555ps ...is that possible??

I’m also fighting with sibilance 

speaker repositioning is a good advice

what speaker cable do you have?

maybe this is another issue

This sibilance problem has always their in hi fi. Vinyl systems seem to be prone to it ,but singers too close to the mic is another big problem. Is the xps the problem i would say no but if you hear the problem using headphone that clears the speaker problem,i would be tempted to go to the dealer if you can and get him to play the same songs on the shop system and see what comes of that.I had the problems with some disc and asked a Naim rep and he could not give a definite answer,but like you say wants you hear the problem it gets in your head. It could be a lead probem so maybe just check all is well with connections,as for the Russell K 100s they are top rate speakers, just as a foot note my gel pads arrive tomorrow , will report back with a update.

Garbage in...

Mike.   As I have a NDS I'm not sure your comment is helpful

Matteo ... It's Naca5 cable ...7 m of it each side

Keith... I love the Russell K speakers....haven't had any noticeable problems with them or their position but am of course willing to have a play to get this project sorted out.

Not sure if I mentioned it earlier..but seems worse with tracks though tidal hi-fi' than same track on my Core...so can rule out core I suppose.

Well, if something that’s been recorded with sibilance has more of it’s sibilance revealed by a physical change in the audio system which conveys more of the original recording, enabling said sibilance to be experienced, I’d say that pointing this out as having taken place, might itself indeed be helpful in promoting an understanding of what’s going on.

Or if you prefer a less wordy commentary:

Garbage in...

Japtimscarlet posted:

Mike.   As I have a NDS I'm not sure your comment is helpful

Matteo ... It's Naca5 cable ...7 m of it each side

Keith... I love the Russell K speakers....haven't had any noticeable problems with them or their position but am of course willing to have a play to get this project sorted out.

Not sure if I mentioned it earlier..but seems worse with tracks though tidal hi-fi' than same track on my Core...so can rule out core I suppose.

Tidal will sound worse than locally streamed music when using an NDS. I can’t bear listening to it on my 272. 

Yes HH I remember some discussion a while ago on this subject...but I was always in the "it's an acceptable source" camp when I had the 272 ...and still enjoy it now 

Went into my dealer today and listened to some of the problem tracks on his ND555 / 552 system

Came to the conclusion that the increased clarity of the 555 system , while still showing the sibilance up ...made less of it than my NDS ...I feel that the setup I have at the moment is less forgiving of slightly off recordings

If anyone wants to see how their system fairs with a taxing track ...then try Florence and the machine MTV unplugged ..only if for a night

There's a lot of troublesome S ss in there ...

Have just received my gel pad and on first impressions was  a raise in the hf,this in turn as japtimscarlet said increased any sibilance on the recording.l had a think and remembered that the Russell K speakers have no internal wadding in them so i placed a micro cloth on the speaker stand beween the pads,this seemed to damp down the sibilance . I will add that i had been using small pads disc shaped i got from a discount store thin rubber with dimples on ,i put them on first then the new gel pads on top,early days but this sounded better, i will give this a go and see how it works out.

Keep us updated pls Keith

I'm up for trying a combination of things if it results in an end game improvement.

Where your gel pads like that anti slip silicon sheet you can get to go in draws etc to stop stuff sliding around ?

I’ve just ordered some to compare to atacama gel pads under scm11 ..il report back over the  weekend 

Are the Atacama gel pads self-adhesive?

Japtimscarlet posted:

Keep us updated pls Keith

I'm up for trying a combination of things if it results in an end game improvement.

Where your gel pads like that anti slip silicon sheet you can get to go in draws etc to stop stuff sliding around ?

Sorry for the confusion, first i used some wilco foam round floor protectors 30 mm 1 pound for a18 pack ,these are similar to the audio serenity in that they have a sticky side,i then placed the audio serenity on top of those.Then some form of damping to cover the top of the stand between the pads,i used a doubled up micro cloth i would think anything cloth similar,this seemed to cut down sibilance while retaining the improvements the pads made ,this may not work in every case but with my speakers and stands it seems to be working,listening to jennifer warnes the hunter cd and sounds great.

hifi-dog posted:

I’ve just ordered some to compare to atacama gel pads under scm11 ..il report back over the  weekend 

Yes pls

Thanks for the clear up Keith...that makes sense

It was a little strange today... Listening to a system at least 5 times the cost of mine still throw out some sibilance...but good in it made me realize that improved resolution and clarity is a double edged sword...sounds that were perhaps a little " smeared" before can take on a sharper sound ...but not always for the better 

Anyway ...just settling down to some London grammar now and sounding great ...but the pads are back in the packet I'm afraid

I’m not sure that pads under your speakers will reduce sibilance, what’s the science there?

Im no design engineer and could not explain how a Naim Fraim works or why Naim used suspended parts in their products but seems to work ,very well too.

Matteo posted:

Are the Atacama gel pads self-adhesive?

Yes and similar price but smaller diameter.. I have not noticed any change in frequency extremes other than the bass having more bounce..