I remember there being a thread about sibilance on Axiom speakers somewhere in this forum.I really never gave much thought about this,but once it was brought to my attention ,I started listening for it.I found that when listining to fm on my M80's through my HK reciever that there was a pronounced sibilance any time a "S" was encountered.Is this a speaker problem or the quality of fm broadcasts? Now that I am aware of this sibilance it can be quite annoying and I find myself using the treble control when I listin to fm.

Dollars to donuts, it's the broadcast, especially if you don't hear it from CDs, DVDs, etc.

When I hooked up a pair of AR9's there was absolutly no sibilance in any mode.Is it possible that due to the M80's "clarity" or "brightnes" (depending on your point of view)that i'm getting this sibilance?

That would be my wager. Axioms can be pretty unforgiving (at least the M2/22/60/80 line).

Play with the speaker positions a little. Toe in /out & distance from the wall behind them. My 60s did this after I bumped one of them and ended up with one being toed in, and one toed out. Of course, there was overall change in sound in general as well, but the sibilance was the most obvious difference, followed by the dissappearance of any imaging at all.

Are you getting good imaging?

Oh no, not another sibilance thread

So I don't have to look it up in the dictionary or do a Google search, what is sibilance. I thought I was picky...

Think sssssssssssssssssssssibilance and you'll get the idea. I don't know what the actual cause is, but the effect is artificial emphasis of "s" sounds. The normal test for a sound system is to say "sibilance" several times into the microphone, maybe that's where the word came from.

Probably like the rainbow affect for DLP projector's, some people see it, but most people do not...

In my past experiences with car audio, I can tell you that if you have forward sounding speakers that happent to be detailed a poor recording will sound sibilant. That was the case with my Focals that I had in my car. Listening to te M80s though on CDs, there was no hint of sibilance whatsoever.

In answer to Micael's questions, my speakers are not toed in or out.They are facing straight out.I am getting good lateral imaging but practically no depth.Due to the shape of my listining room my speakers are placed assymetrically.I am assuming that that's why I am not getting much depth.I have tried toing both in and out but that hasn't done anything to get rid of the sibilance or helped the depth issue.