Sony SSCS5 vs. Wave Crest Audio HVL-1?

[Motrek]

There have been no real complaints about excess sibilance -- the Sony only has a small boost around 1 khz and then there tends to be a small, slow downward tilt in the rest of the frequency range. I would just keep testing and listening and see what happens -- sometimes the source can still be the bigger problem and not overall the speakers.

Darnit, now that I was listening for this, it's become the only thing I can hear. Nothing a few beers can't sort out, I'm sure.

 

[KEW]

Okay, I've been super impressed with the SS-CS5s for the last couple days, been listening to all my music on them almost non-stop... used them to watch a TV show on my computer last night and noticed an annoying level of sibilance in a lot of the dialogue... swapped with my Ascends and re-watched the same material, no annoying sibilance... is this something other people have noticed?

I didn't notice any issues like that, but for reference having too much sound energy in the 6k to 8kHz range is usually the cause of sibilance.
Any chance you have some EQ happening in the chain?
With YouTube vids sound quality is a crap shoot, but if you were streaming via Netflix or the like, there seems to be fairly good consistency!

 

[KEW]

Darnit, now that I was listening for this, it's become the only thing I can hear. Nothing a few beers can't sort out, I'm sure.

What show and how fed to your computer?
If it is Hulu or Netflix, give me the episode and time for a place where it is clear and I will hook up my Sony's and see if I can replicate (but probably Late Monday or Tuesday to get to it).
Like I said, make sure their is no EQ in the chain.

 

[Motrek]

I didn't notice any issues like that, but for reference having too much sound energy in the 6k to 8kHz range is usually the cause of sibilance.
Any chance you have some EQ happening in the chain?
With YouTube vids sound quality is a crap shoot, but if you were streaming via Netflix or the like, there seems to be fairly good consistency!

Was watching an episode of John Oliver, streaming via HBO... I've listened to his voice for hours with my Ascends, sometimes with my HVL-1s, and sometimes on other peoples' systems. Never noticed any unnatural sibilance. But I found the sibilance distracting and annoying with the SS-CS5s. :/

I found a frequency response plot here:
https://www.lifewire.com/sony-ss-cs5-review-3135114

Looks like there's a tiny bit of an on-axis peak centered around 8.5 kHz but it doesn't seem big enough that it would be noticeable...

 

[shadyJ]

Doesn't look like that would be a sibilant speaker at all from that response graph. One problem may be the low pass filter on the crossover is not working and is allowing the woofer to operate to breakup modes. Or you could have a bad tweeter. Manufacturing tolerances probably aren't great in a speaker as mass produced as those Sonys.

 

[Motrek]

Doesn't look like that would be a sibilant speaker at all from that response graph. One problem may be the low pass filter on the crossover is not working and is allowing the woofer to operate to breakup modes. Or you could have a bad tweeter. Manufacturing tolerances probably aren't great in a speaker as mass produced as those Sonys.

Good thoughts. My study is pretty symmetrical so both speakers should sound the same if they're working right. I just played through a bunch of stuff while switching the balance from left to right and both speakers sound the same to me so I'm pretty sure both are functioning as designed.

Probably the speakers sound different enough that they've triggered my brain to listen to everything more carefully/critically. I probably just need to give the speakers the usual 100 hour break in period, and by that I mean give my ears that amount of time to adjust.

 

[shadyJ]

If you haven't yet, try to engage something like Audyssey or some kind of equalization. EQ'ing can be used to take down peaks that cause sibilance.

 

[zieglj01]

Probably the speakers sound different enough that they've triggered my brain to listen to everything more carefully/critically. I probably just need to give the speakers the usual 100 hour break in period, and by that I mean give my ears that amount of time to adjust.

Relax your brain and enjoy.

 

[Motrek]

Relax your brain and enjoy.

I have too much free time so I was thinking about upgrading my TV speakers to towers.

I like the SS-CS5s so much in my study that I was thinking maybe I should just buy some SS-CS3s.

As an experiment, I tried replacing my Ascend CBM-170s with my SS-CS5s.

Notes:

- Holy bass! The SS-CS5s deliver much more bass even though they're much smaller speakers with smaller drivers. Very impressive. Made me wonder if I need towers at all or I should just get another pair of the Sonys. This isn't just perceived bass either: I did a frequency sweep and at my normal TV-watching levels, with my room's geometry, the Sonys were playing strong into the 40s and were audible in the 30s. The Ascends become all but inaudible in the 40s. (Not really sure why there's this big of a difference, since the Sonys are rated to 53Hz and the Ascends are rated to 58Hz, not a huge difference, and plus Ascend lists the "typical in-room response" as going down to 53Hz...)

- The SS-CS5s don't sound boxy, which was a problem with the HVL-1s. They don't fill the entire room with sound as well as the Ascends but they don't sound boxy.

- The SS-CS5s produce clear dialog at all times, which was another problem with the HVL-1s. I kept feeling like I had to turn up the volume on the HVL-1s to make out the dialog better, no such problem with the SS-CS5s.

- The imaging with the SS-CS5s was pretty good but still a little wobbly. I have a challenging setup where I'm usually laying down on my couch to watch TV/movies, with my head directly on-axis with one speaker and pretty far off-axis to the other. The Ascends have no problem with this but with the Sonys, it sometimes seemed like dialog was coming from odd places around the TV, and not directly from the TV. It's probably a bit unfair to fault the speakers for my stupid listening position.

- There's something about the Ascends that makes certain sound effects sound stupidly realistic, especially doors closing, like car doors. It's eerie. The SS-CS5 are fine but don't produce this level of realism.

- A couple voices seemed challenging for the SS-CS5s. Most peoples' voices were similar between the Ascends and the SS-CS5s, but I watched a movie with Tommy Lee Jones in it and his voice sounded unrealistic with the Sonys. Hard to describe but if I _had_ to pick a word, it would be "crunchy."

- I thought I had convinced myself that any perceived sibilance from the SS-CS5s was all in my head but when I watched an entire movie with them, the sibilance was back immediately and in full force. I love these speakers for music but I just can't deal with them for TV, movies, podcasts, etc. It's hard for me to understand how this doesn't bother anybody else. I can't explain what might be causing this effect. I suppose maybe the slight frequency response dip around ~3KHz causes the small hump from 4k to 6k to sound relatively bigger?? This really is a deal-breaker for me in terms of HT use, which makes me sad. If other people don't notice it then I don't know what's wrong with my ears...

 

[noclue]

The Sony's seem to have a lot of fans for the price and what they sound like. I have some HVL-1s thatI bought a long time ago too. I got a 4k 55 inch tv for a real good deal and then got a Yahama reciver forgot the model number.
I an small room the HVL-1 sounds amazing with just 3 of them and a sub. Not boxy at all. I can hear the foot setps as they walk across the room and a lot of detail. The HVL-1s are hard to drive. Working to see how Sonys sound in a small room.

On a diffrent forum The chane A2.4 gets a lot of great reviews was copared to the Siera 2 and he seemed to think they wear close but the Siera 2 was better but not a lot. That is just he review though I would think that the Siera 2 would sound a lot better.
I want to try some later on myself to see how they sound

 

[Motrek]

The Sony's seem to have a lot of fans for the price and what they sound like. I have some HVL-1s thatI bought a long time ago too. I got a 4k 55 inch tv for a real good deal and then got a Yahama reciver forgot the model number.
I an small room the HVL-1 sounds amazing with just 3 of them and a sub. Not boxy at all. I can hear the foot setps as they walk across the room and a lot of detail. The HVL-1s are hard to drive. Working to see how Sonys sound in a small room.

On a diffrent forum The chane A2.4 gets a lot of great reviews was copared to the Siera 2 and he seemed to think they wear close but the Siera 2 was better but not a lot. That is just he review though I would think that the Siera 2 would sound a lot better.
I want to try some later on myself to see how they sound

As I've written, I really wanted to love my HVL-1s but I just couldn't. I bought mine used via Craigslist and sometimes I even wonder if something was wrong with them. But the left and right speakers sounded identical, so what are the odds that the same thing was wrong with both of them?

One thing I've thought of is that my HVL-1s had a tremendous amount of cabinet vibration. This surprises me because "NO Audiophile" did a teardown of them and they seem very well-built and even have a cross brace, which I guess is unusual for their price. With my new Sonys, there is almost no cabinet vibration.

Maybe if you're using your HVL-1s with a subwoofer, there's less cabinet vibration and they can play clearer?

 

[noclue]

Yes i have a emovtive 10 inch sub, dont need much sub in a 14 x 14 room. when I get some more time off I will give the sony cores some more attention but to me the HVL-1 sonded amazing in a small room. the clarity of the dialog and special effects wear amazing.
I set about 5 foot from the speakers that and being in a small room is what may be making a difrence.

 

[noclue]

Want to try the Chane A.2's across the front also when i get the coin, They are much easier to drive that the Sony core or HVL'1 speakers. If they are as good as what I read in another form then they are worth the $800 for 3 of them.
I just don't want to fall down the rabbit hole constantly looking for a better speaker.

 

[Motrek]

Yes i have a emovtive 10 inch sub, dont need much sub in a 14 x 14 room. when I get some more time off I will give the sony cores some more attention but to me the HVL-1 sonded amazing in a small room. the clarity of the dialog and special effects wear amazing.
I set about 5 foot from the speakers that and being in a small room is what may be making a difrence.

I used my HVL-1s for a while in both my large-ish living room and my small study and they sounded pretty much the same regardless of the size of the room.

At no point was dialogue from the HVL-1s so unclear that I couldn't make out what was being said, but it seemed like it could have always been just a BIT more clear. I found myself constantly, reflexively wanting to turn up the volume a bit to try to clear up the dialogue, but that also increased the volume of whatever was messing up the dialog. I don't know if it was cabinet vibrations or noise from the front port or what.

I'm curious to know what you think of the Sonys if you end up trying them!

 

[Motrek]

Want to try the Chane A.2's across the front also when i get the coin, They are much easier to drive that the Sony core or HVL'1 speakers. If they are as good as what I read in another form then they are worth the $800 for 3 of them.
I just don't want to fall down the rabbit hole constantly looking for a better speaker.

BTW--I can wholeheartedly recommend the Ascend CBM-170 SE if you're using a subwoofer.

 

[noclue]

I will give them another try tomorrow if not to tired from working my last 12 hour night shift. I also ordered a Denon x3300 will be hear next Thursday. I like my Yamaha but it a bit under powered. The Denon has better sub and speaker calibration though and a app to use with a iPad my wife has that I can fine tune some more.
The new Yamaha is great for dialog you can up the dialog up by 3 if that doesn't work you can always raise the output on the canter a couple. it also has a a feature that lets you hear dialog across all three front channels.
Will see how the Denon makes it sound

 

[noclue]

The Ascend CBM-170 was on my list of speakers to look at maybe next year when i get my bonus. But again trying not to go down the rabbit hole.
when ever I talk to Dave or his wife they are great by the way. they kind stick to needing a 12 inch sub but in my room i think a 12 inch sub is to much.
would love to get a rhythmic sub but to pricey for me right now

 

[Motrek]

The Ascend CBM-170 was on my list of speakers to look at maybe next year when i get my bonus. But again trying not to go down the rabbit hole.
when ever I talk to Dave or his wife they are great by the way. they kind stick to needing a 12 inch sub but in my room i think a 12 inch sub is to much.
would love to get a rhythmic sub but to pricey for me right now

I have a pair of CBM-170 SEs for my TV (no subwoofer) and I can't really imagine any speakers being significantly better, except for the bass extension. That might sound silly because I know there are a lot of great speakers out there. But I've listened to a few setups that are much more expensive and to my ears they were either similar to my Ascends or not as good. I have people over to watch TV or movies pretty often, and the Ascends get a lot of [unprompted] compliments.

I would like to replace my Ascends with some tower speakers to get some more bass extension but I've been really reluctant because I doubt that whatever I replace them with will be as good for midrange/treble.

 

[j_garcia]

I have a pair of CBM-170 SEs for my TV (no subwoofer) and I can't really imagine any speakers being significantly better, except for the bass extension. That might sound silly because I know there are a lot of great speakers out there. But I've listened to a few setups that are much more expensive and to my ears they were either similar to my Ascends or not as good. I have people over to watch TV or movies pretty often, and the Ascends get a lot of [unprompted] compliments.

I would like to replace my Ascends with some tower speakers to get some more bass extension but I've been really reluctant because I doubt that whatever I replace them with will be as good for midrange/treble.

340SEs More of the same great midrange. Thing about the SE line is that they're very neutral and seem to sound good with pretty much everything.

 

[Motrek]

340SEs More of the same great midrange. Thing about the SE line is that they're very neutral and seem to sound good with pretty much everything.

Thought about it! But looking at those frequency response graphs, they look almost identical. Only 1-2 dB different in the 50-100Hz range, and the 340s seem to roll off a bit faster than the 170s below that. (?!) Not really sure how the 340s don't have vastly more bass output than the 170s considering they have twice as much bass driver and they're 50% bigger. :/

Been considering the Q Acoustics 3050s. Not much more expensive than the 340s but much bigger (probably more bass, plus no need for stands). They've been getting good buzz lately and seem to also measure very well on- and off-axis...

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1215/Q_Acoustics_3050_Speakers_Review.htm