What causes harsh S-sounds in music?

[RosedaleGuy]

What causes harsh S-sounds in music?

Sometimes when I turn up the volume I hear the S-sounds seem unnatural. I don't know how to describe it. It's an irritating bright "ssssss" trailing words that end in "S."

Is there a term for this? What's the cause? Compressed MP3's? Low quality speakers?

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[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

probably have metal dome tweeters. Taming 12.5Khz with an EQ can help get rid of it, or turning down power...

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

It's called sibilance. It comes in at 4-9 kHz. Interactive Frequency Chart

 

[RosedaleGuy]

It's called sibilance. It comes in at 4-9 kHz. Interactive Frequency Chart

Thanks for the word--sibilance. I Googled and found some opinions. One opinion is that a slow cumulative spectral decay response is the problem. So, getting a tweeter with a high CSD helps eliminate the problem. He suggests a good ribbon tweeter.

Also found opinions that suggest that there are many potential sources to the problem like the amp and even the recording.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Tweeter cone/dome material can play a part in this, sometimes just simply location and aiming of tweeters can help. Just FYI poor quality tweeters will always sound bad, good ones will still be dependent on installation and to some degree vehicle specific.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Thanks for the word--sibilance. I Googled and found some opinions. One opinion is that a slow cumulative spectral decay response is the problem. So, getting a tweeter with a high CSD helps eliminate the problem. He suggests a good ribbon tweeter.

Ribbon tweeters are extremely fragile and aren't suited for use in the car. As hispls mentioned below, using a good tweeter tried in different locations and aimed different ways might help. Sibilance is not a problem that I read about a lot or experience in person, so either people don't recognize it to get annoyed by it or it's not that common in car audio.

 

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

It's called sibilance. It comes in at 4-9 kHz. Interactive Frequency Chart

I've always had better luck taming 12.5Khz for some reason, maybe just the tweeters I run. Vifa alum neo's...

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

sibilance is usually install related. caused by phase interference/diffraction. usually a result of tweeter placement/aiming. you hear the direct sound and then reflections immediately after. reflections are usually from nearby glass.

this is why i run tweeter spheres.