Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Sibilance

Give that man a cheroot bag of Jalapeno popcorn!

If your AVR or whatever you’re using has a built in equalizer where you can manually set different bands you might try to EQ some of it out. Not sure how accurate this is but here’s a chart that might help:

http://www.har-bal.com/index.php?/frequency-chart.php

Obviously using EQ may have other undesirable effects but it might be worth a try.

Not trying to sound rude but sounds odd to me that you would only start hearing it recently, usually that‘s the sort of thing that jumps right out at you. Have you noticed if your hearing is changing? Have you changed anything in your setup or room including cable provider?

What’s really odd to me is that you hear it mostly with TV and movies and less with music where I find it all the time. I’ve heard sibilance with my M80s on many audio tracks but when I checked them against my Sennheiser headphones it was also present which means to me that my Axioms are faithfully reproducing what’s recorded. I know that doesn’t help much in getting rid of it though.

Cheers,
Dean

Alan,

Perhaps my choice of language in describing the artifacts inherent in the "sibilance" of the VP150 was mistaken. What words acceptable to you should I use to describe the inherent "artifacts" created when a center design has two tweeters spaced 21" on the H plane? Cancellation affects, diffusion, combing artifacts,CTC distortion, what words do I use?
The off axis performance is really bad but I found if I cover the center woofer with a CD cover it helps. Perhaps I should solder a resistor inline on the center woofer?
I also wish to admit my tone and references to lack of design progression isn't all that fair. The reason for my "bad attitude" is my initial treatment on the forum here, two replaced A-1400s, one replaced EP500 amp, 3 replaced woofers with half glued on off-center dustcovers and the kicker that REALLY got me mad was when I inspected my uncles's M80 cabinet construction. The photos I published here is of the M80 that I DON'T have a problem with. It's fine yet users here thought it wasn't right LOL. You guys wouldn't believe the glue job and bracing on the screwy unit! I didn't post due to discretion!
For an observation of the attitude prevalent on your forum just take a look at the fighting regarding speaker break-in and bicycle inner-tubes as of late. Perhaps then Axiom insiders you'll understand why I've "freaked out".
I'd also like to add that you have not answered any of the questions of the user who started the thread or in my post that you have a problem with my choice of adjectives in describing the VP150 properties. I am very well aware of combing as it pertains to a stereo sound field but thanks for the recap.
Also I am curious if graphs for the VP150 have been publish by Axiom. I have yet to find measurements if they even exist from Axiom. I have found readings taken by Dannie Ritchie though. He's a friend of Skiing Ninja so I guess his words are garbage around here to you guys. I'm sure none of you have a problem with me quoting Dannie as one of the users here recently sited him regarding his research on driver break-in.
VP150 Third Party Measurements


Solid-State

I had never used the ignore user feature in any forum until today.

For extra credit, if anyone's actually still not ignoring him, if he says anything particularly egregious (ad hominems, etc.) you can report the post to Axiom by pressing the "Notify" button.

I'll just quote a earlier post of mine and finally bugger off... well if Alan responds I'll post again.

"What the hell do you think they'll say about the VP150 obvious design flaws... It will be like talking to a politician regarding a social issue. It would be almost as much a waste of time as this forum is."

Solid-State

Jalapeno Popcorn. Classic.

To the OP:

With a big old dose of IMHO...

Axiom speakers can result in emphasized highs. But not because they are designed to do that, but because they were designed to have a very flat and even freq response. Remember, the point of Axiom speakers is neutrality. The good, the bad, and the ugly all get pushed through.

A lot of speakers aren't as neutral. Some emphasize the lows, or the midrange, or the highs. Others roll-off parts of the spectrum. Others are a combination. If that's what you're auditory tastes favor, then there's nothing wrong with saying that Axiom speakers aren't your cup of tea, and finding some other brand that adds a pleasing amount of coloration. Again, for you and your ears. That's why there are so many brands of speakers out there.

That said, Axiom speakers don't make material brighter than it already is. A poorly recorded show/CD/DVD will sound bad on an Axiom system. Lesser speakers may mask the poor quality of the recording, and actually result in something that sounds better to your ear. And that's the rub; is it better to listen happily in ignorance? Or better to have the nth-degree of sonic clarity with which to hear all of the details, both good and bad? There is no right or wrong answer, it's just about your desires in music.

Back to the point....
The cable company in my town does something to many of the channels' audio, and the result is some amount of sibilance. At least, it was that way in the past. Maybe it's different now in the HD era. It was fine on some shows, but noticeable on others. Really bad on the low-grade, locally-produced "come-on-down-to-big-Jim's-car-extravaganza' commercials. Horrible; with sound levels jacked up so high that the audio breaks apart into clacky, hissy, sibilance.

One of several reasons I dumped them and have been a happy Dish Network customer for several years now. I do not get any sibilance; from old mono SD material to DD5.1 HD feeds. Programming is spectacular. Except for those same locally produced, crappy-microphone, cranked-the-gain-to-11 commercials. I get similar amounts of sibilance that I had in the past. That's entirely the fault of that commercial's audio mixer or the local station that's broadcasting it. Does it sound bad? Perhaps. Do I care? Not in the least.

Now if you're having big-time sibilance problems on all of the programming, I would contact your cable company and see if you can get a different converter box. Or perhaps try experimenting with different connections - HDMI vs coax digital vs. RCA, etc. But it might not even be the box, it could be your cable company. Do you have a pair of headphones? Remove the Axiom's from the loop. Try plugging your headphones into the AVR and see if you hear the same sibilance.

Hey guys, just logged on for the first time today(was up in cottage country near Axiom). What'd I miss?

Did anyone save me some popcorn?

(please note: the unpopped kernels at the bottom don't count)

Just the usual.