A-Team: Does anybody experience shrillness or hot S sounds with their VP 150? Roundabout 60 days of use I have noticed that there can be some terrible S sounds in some dailogue scenes on cable or DVD's... Can this fixed?

The first time I noticed was watching "Gangs of New York"; a pretty decent flick I should add, but gory. The narration parts by Leonardo de Caprio became almost unbearable. Nearly every S was noticeably hot and accentuated.

Next time it became painful was watching a Celebrity 100 Biggest Oops's show on the E! cable channel. The main narrator and several other interviews had pronounced shrill on most 'S's.

I can't say the S's are always bad. It may be the way certain people say it. The people I was watching this with never said anything about the S's. It is something that is beginning to bug me and I hope I can fix it, because the rest of the time this speaker sound tremendous.

Can this phenomena be toned down? I read in a search that there is a possible mod for this? A 2 Ohm resistor for the tweeter? Has anyone tried this? Will it help me?

My 7.2 System: h/k AVR 8000, h/k PA 2000(B) , h/k DVD 50(B), Axiom M22TISE(B), Axiom VP150SE(B), Axiom QS8(B), Cheap Pioneer Rears, 2 HSU VTF2, and Coaxial Cable TV.


Grazie!

Hi lutefisk,

Microphones are transducers, just like speakers, and like many poorly designed non-linear speakers, are anything but linear and smooth in the midrange--especially mikes used for TV production and studio shows. So you are hearing the results of bad choices of mikes by the audio engineers on the offending shows.

Indeed, many mikes used for narration have built-in "presence" peaks (done for intelligibility) that will emphasize sibilant "s's" and "t's". But when you hear these played back on smooth, linear speakers like the VP150, you'll hear the results of the microphone's nasty peaks in the midrange. Even worse, some singers actually specify using certain mikes for their recordings that they use for live performances,and the resulting CDs can be almost unlistenable on smooth, wide-range speakers.

That's why you hear these effects only with certain programs. You can't expect a speaker to cover up or compensate for errors made in audio recording. If you installed a resistor, it would help the lousy soundtracks but well-recorded soundtracks and CDs would then sound duller than they should.

Choosing the right microphone requires great care. Lavalier mikes that are pinned to performer's shirts are notoriously peaky in the mids and sound awful on good speakers. But over crummy TV set's speakers, they retain good intelligibility, which is the whole point, because many millions in the audience do not use sophisiticated well-designed speakers to watch and listen to TV and movies. As people acquire higher-fideility home theater systems, perhaps we'll see a change in miking practices. But don't hold your breath.

Regards,

That's fascinating. I was experiencing an increase in sibilance (now that I know that's the term) from a few sources and actually posted a thread asking if that was a problem with the VP150. Upon closer listening I can hear the same sibilance on t's, s's and some trumpet flourishes on the same CD but played through different speakers and headphones. So it's the material, not the speaker. The VP150 just enhances the problem with the material.

Now I see that this is inherent in the recording, and not a defect of the VP150.

I have watched Gangs of NY and use a VP150 and did not notice an issue with the S. Room dimensions could have something to do with it too though.