A few more steps to get a handle on sibilance:

a) Removed the Auralex subdude platforms from under the Triton 3+ speakers. Now the speakers sit directly on the floor with the stock rubber feet in place. I have low cut carpet. This made a big difference in eliminating the last bit of sibilance. I tried this when I first got the speakers more than a year ago but didn't like the sound, as I thought it was a bit dull. With all of the other changes I made to my system, now it sounds best this way.

b) Enabled volume leveling and adaptive volume in JRiver. This creates headroom. Again, I had tried this earlier a year ago but didn't like the result. Now, it sounds fantastic.

c) Moved the speakers back another half inch, so that they are now 19.25 inches from the front wall. This is the perfect distance to reinforce the bass without it being bloated or boomy in my room.

None of these changes dulled the sound with the system I have now. Detail is still delightful.

I am finished with the changes, and now I just listen to gorgeous tone, full sound, with everything in balance and no excessive or distorted sibilance. Even Patricia Barber's songs "Summer Samba" and "The Wind Song," which are full of "s" words, sounds completely natural. I am a believer in Goldenear Triton speakers! If you are less than completely satisfied with the sound, take some time to experiment with toe in, speaker and listening chair placement, room treatment, etc., and you will almost certainly find bliss.

Wilderness,

Sounds like you're dialing the system in! That's great.

Rereading the thread, I'll just add that I have Gaia IIs under my TRefs. They made a very big improvement in my sound. Much more than the differences I've heard due to cables. The Gaias greatly improved upper mid-range transparency and imaging. When you get through tweaking things, you might try them.

Charlie

Charlie: Page 4 of "New old stock Triton 2"...Wilderness comments:

"I do not recommend using any IsoAcoustic products with the Triton speakers. Using its feet, pucks, stands, etc. makes the Tritons sound too bright with some vocals. And the Tritons sound great without them".

I guess Isoacoustics products work for some and don't work for others.

It has been my experience that something can work well for one audio system but not for another one. Thus the advice we see so often about changes being system dependent and YMMV.

The biggest surprise for me has been that something that did not work for me at one point, did work well a year or so later. When I first got my speakers and for a few months thereafter, the first few changes I tried did not work well. But then after I made several other effective changes -- such as installing different tubes in my preamp, adjusting speaker and listening chair placement, changing toe in, and adding room treatment -- I discovered that what did not work earlier, did work well after those other changes were in place. So even changes for one system can work well at one point but not at another one. That discovery was quite a revelation, and a very positive one at that.

Anyway, I am so happy now. I have a great system that never goes wrong, and it has me marveling at how good it sounds every day. And I learned some important lessons along the way getting to this happy point.

Thank you for the advice fellow GoldenEar Triton owners.

And one last change to get a handle on sibilance (Sssss sounds) and plosives such as the letter "T."

I swapped out the power cords on my DAC and amplifier with Pangea 14SE Mk II and 9SE Mk II cables. And I swapped out my surge protector for a Pangea Quattro Premier XL power strip for my DAC and reclocker, which also required a 9SE Mk II power cord.

These Pangea products significantly increased clarity right out of the box. Then, after around 120 hours, I noticed that sibilance and plosives sounded shelved down a little while at the same time more natural on the tracks that had suffered from that problem. Examples: Gillian Welch's Boots No. 2 albums and Simon & Garfunkel's Wednesday 3 a.m. album.

I played the 20 or so tracks in my 9,500-track playlist that had excessive sibilance, and only one still had a bit too much. The other are all fine now.

Pangea power cords and power strip are some of the best bang for the buck audiophile products I have tried.

I had been using Audience Forte 3 power cords on my DAC and amp, and while there they added a beautiful, darker character with more lower midrange and upper bass emphasis they did not reduce sibilance and plosives as much as the Pangea products did. The Audience cables found a good home, though, replacing the stock power cords on my my Triton 3+ speakers and my subwoofers.

Even after making all of the changes I mentioned in this thread, I was still getting a bit too much sibilance. So, I did the following:

1) Replaced Pangea power cords for my DAC and amp with the Audience Forte 3 cords that I already had. The Pangea cords would liven up a dull system, but they were too bright for mine.

2) Replaced USB, digital coax, and speaker cables with OCC copper cables from Cardas and Moon.

3) Applied a small EQ cut in the treble in JRiver.

All of that helped, but it still was not enough. So, I replaced my Teac 503NT DAC with a Metrum Onyx DAC. This is a smooth R2R DAC.

Now I have no more excessive sibilance in the 9,500 songs I have except two in Simon & Garfunkel's Wednesday at 3 a.m. album. That album is notorius for its excessive sibilance. And one Neil Young song, "Round & Round." That song has generated complaints from other people online about its sibilance. So, the excessive sibilance in these three songs is in the recordings, and not my system.

I really had to work to tame the sibilance with these Triton 3+ speakers, but it was worth it. I learned a lot along the way about what works. And now I have a beautiful sounding system that I am very happy with. I listen for 12 to 14 hours a day with zero fatigue.