Is this sibilance?

[Bee255]

I have just very excitedly purchased my first turntable set up - Rega planar 2, Rega mini phono preamp a2d, connected to a Sonos 5. The sound coming out of the speaker is glorious, however there is surface noise coming from the turntable itself on cymbals, S noises and high hats that is so distracting I can’t bear to listen to anything. The noise from the turntable is tinny and borderline out of sync. It’s only present for these sorts of features - a nice basic blues album is dead silent, but I’ve tried it on a few different records and all have the same issues with these noises. 

 

My question is whether this is sibilance? Again, no issues with these sounds out of the speaker, only directly from the turntable. Have I set something up incorrectly? Could the stylus be damaged (we did have a few unfortunate skates across the record while trying to set up the balance)? Is this just a feature of listening to records we have to live with?? 

[bluethumb]

Sounds like the definition of sibilance e to me, and it is definitely not something you have to just "live with". First I would examine the stylus and make sure it is still contacting the record in a proper vertical position. Assuming all is good, it's time to take that trusty protractor out and realign the cartridge - if you don't have one I'd suggest getting one otherwise you'll have this trial and error phase every time you change out the cart/stylus. Also, make sure to take the anti-skate adjustment off while aligning or you'll continue to have skating parties

 

https://www.amazon.com/Turntable-Phonograph-Cartridge-Alignment-Protractor/dp/B079ZBLJ4M/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1530014148&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=turntable+protractor&psc=1

Edited June 26, 2018 by bluethumb

[allenh]

You can download a free protractor to print out from the Vinyl Engine but make sure you print out one with a ruler scale on it so you can check your print isn't resized by your printer.

 

On any turntable there are other things to check like tracking force (which you need a scales for), anti skate (anti skate should be set roughly the same as tracking force) and VTA (vertical tracking alignment) but VTA is fixed on a Rega so that can't be your problem unless you've sent it way out with a really thick matt on your platter or similar or have an odd sized cartridge fitted which is doubtful as you bought it new.