Is There A Device For Home Use That Can Measure How Low The Bass In My Speakers Is?


How can I measure how many hertz my speakers measure for bass?

128x128mitch4t

The Stereophile test CD has bass tones and it’s pretty easy to hear how low your speakers go before they crap out. They also have treble tones so you can hear when your ears crap out. A bit depressing. 

It’s not just how low, it’s also how equal in level all frequencies are top to bottom, IN YOUR ROOM.

I have test lp's and cds, this, my favorite test cd has 29 specific 1/3 octave tones.

 

then you get an inexpensive Sound Pressure Meter (with a tripod screw fitting)

mount on tripod set at seated ear height at your listening position.

make a chart, (I made enlarged copy of the booklet’s track listing)

pick 1,000 hz for example, and adjust volume to your 'normal loud'

now select specific tracks and write down what you are getting.

it can help you refine speaker location and toe-in, see the measured results.

In my case, I have L-Pads to adjust 'Presence' the mid horn output to the woofer output, and L-Pad to adjust 'Brilliance' the tweeter horn to the mid horn. Both sides. Takes quite a while to get it right, but when you do, oh baby!

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If you cannot find that test cd at a decent price, send me a private message.

I did this by ear for so many years, the inexpensive SPL meter and test tones are a treat.

 

Any suggestions if a CD player is not available?

An SPL meter measures loudness in the units of dB. Is there a similar handheld device which measures frequency in Hz?

You don't need a CD player or any test CDs or files. To measure how low the Hertz you need a calibrated test microphone and software to use it. It can also show you how high the SPL before to much distortion. The OP isn't asking how loud his bass goes but how low in frequency.

Usually you have a source with the Hertz that you choose to test and use the dB as the test result.  There are cell phone and tablet apps to do this measuring.  Improved results can be had if a separate microphone is acquired.

The Velodyne SMS -1

Its a combo room analyzer, X-over and EQ. It’s designed to produce bass sweeps that you can see on a video monitor The idea is to use the X-over and EQ sections to get a smooth handoff to a subwoofer, but the room analyzer will show only the bass response of your main speaker (below 200 hz) if there’s no subwoofer in the system

Pick up a copy of the Stereophile Test CD.  Then download a audio spectrum analyzer to your phone.  Basic "Spectroid" will give you a good idea how low your speaker will produce audible bass.  

Way too complicated answers here guys. If you stream amazon or similar go there and find any release with the name Miami bass or similar. Those albums ALL have test sections with a variety of samples of sine waves. Then goto which app store is appropriate for your smartphone and search for an app that will display the frequency and volume of whatever it hears. Done and done for free, likely 

Stream white noise internet radio station and use Decibel sound meter app or similar on smartphone to measure. 

+1 for CDs and SPL meters. Sonic Tools on your smart phone can get you close. Free for the iphone…

FWIW, there are many tone generator apps you can download and run through your DAC. You can pick specific frequencies or sweeps. That might be easier if you have an external DAC. 

+1 to @djones51 ...dB on the SPL will tell you 'how much' vaguely, but a calibrated mic in even a eq like an 8024 Behringer will show you 'where' as well.

Used ones can be had for 100ish$ on average.

Buy a new mic, one never knows about the used ones.. Trips to the floor, the like...

Then you can play with it, if the mood strikes... ;)

Have fun, J

If you have a laptop down load a demo version of JBL Smart or has a spectrum 

analyzer and pink and whit noise generators

you can use that to test the complete Fr response

of your speakers

Lots of spectrum analyzer apps available for Android and iPhone. You can get an inexpensive calibrated mic from Parts Express. Pink noise can come from an app, CD or Vinyl. Do not use interstation noise.

White noise from FM is equal energy per frequency.

Pink noise is equal energy per octave.

Big difference, as white noise is much brighter - as energy doubles with each octave. Measurements made with white noise are all wrong, as the curve rises at 3dB/Octave from 0. 63Hz is 12 dB lower than 1KHz.

 

For any measurement to be meaningful, you will need a pink noise source and a precision sound pressure level meter with a calibrated microphone.  You might be able to download a 1/3 octave pink noise source which you can burn to a CD.  Records or prerecorded tapes will of course be influenced by the frequency response of your cartridge and tape machine, which at very low frequencies could add another variable.  Where you place the SPL meter and what weighting filter you use will also affect your results.  Are you trying to measure just the speakers or the total response of your speakers in your listening environment?  Bruel & Kjaer wrote much on acoustic measurement and have published many books and booklets on making meaningful SPL measurements which I would highly recommend as useful reading.  Even the instruction book for their 2203 Precision Sound Level Meter has useful information for doing what you want to accomplish.

Listen to Chayro,  The Stereophile test CD will tell you.  Common sense tells you when it becomes inaudible, you have passed the bottom end.

If this is just for curiosity sake, a test tone generator is on many websites including audiocheck as listed above.  Also there are phone apps for SPL, so you can verify the drop in dB, probably not super accurate, but good enough for curiosity. 

hypoman is the first, and only, contributor to this thread to even mention an essential parameter relevant to almost every other suggestion: that the SPL meter must be properly "weighted." The meter elliotbnewcombjr actually provides a link to will be useless for measuring bass output: it is "A weighted," which does not register anything below 100 Hz. The vast majority of such inexpensive meters available on Amazon or eBay are "A weighted," like the one in that link, which are intended for measuring industrial noise levels, not music. I learned this the hard way: I acquired one of those "A weighted" meters, and was puzzled that the readings I got seemed impossibly low for the subjective loudness they presumably measured. A device that will allow you to switch between "A" and "C" weighting will dramatically reveal the difference. And since the OP is interested specifically in "how low" his speakers will go, none of the suggested meters in this thread will be of any use at all in determining this.

OP wants HZ but gets SPL (“I didn’t order umm”) suggestions as though he were the brain dead one. LOL. 


OP, there are free versions of tone generators, SPL meters and spectrum analyzers available in the Apple App Store or Google Apps. HSU Research has a test tone CD that has the absolute cleanest 16HZ recordings on the planet, should you be interested in the extreme. I’ve gotten one free with every sub. Probably available for sale on the cheap. It has a bunch of other test pieces as well including music and pink/white noises. In the event you’re looking at 20HZ and up, the free stuff will do nicely. 

(Mr. Anderson was here.)

dgluke complains that suggesting SPL meters when the OP had asked for Hz is "braindead." But--duh!--Hz are audible as SPL. And then dgluke suggests the Hsu test tone CD, like everyone who mentioned SPL readings also did (even if not the Hsu CD specifically).

The easy way to "measure" if your speakers go down to 20 Hz, or 16 Hz (if you’ve got a Hsu sub, apparently) is to play such a test CD and LISTEN! If you can’t HEAR your speaker producing the tone, measure the output with an SPL meter. If you’re still skeptical, take the grill cloth off and watch the cone move.

B weighted is the method used in stereophile in my experience reading the magazine. A weighted is used at times as well. But this is all nonsense. Mentioning it is nothing more than adding your own attaboy. SPL  and spectrum analyzers made for audio are not going to have to be taken off construction mode in order to measure your speakers. My dB meter has an OSHA mode, among others, but it is still measuring music…because that’s what it was meant for. Buy or download music related products and stay off PPG, manufacturing, farming, aviation and construction safety we stores and you’re golden. A simple google search turns up excellent no brained results. I believe you’d have to go out of your way to mess this up in the way you suggested.
 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/measuring-loudspeakers-part-one-page-4ok 

@mapman 

Took up guitar and piano a while back so most of my listening is either me warbling badly through my studio monitors or in the car. Not much to contribute here since my hi fi gear is mostly laying silent. However I got an email on this thread and thought the OP might have interest in the SMS-1.  

Thanks, dgluke, for the John Atnkinson Stereophile link. The whole article is interesting and informative. In any case, I did not know about "B weighting"; my SPL meter only gives me a choice between "A" and "C". There are, of course, several other equalization curves in use; "A" and "C" are just the most common. But, as Atkinson remarks at the beginning of the article, "A weighting" does not correspond to perceived loudness levels, which is what I've certainly experienced and pointed out above—and the SPL meters mentioned, and even linked, elsewhere in this thread are all to "A weighted" devices.

As for the relevance of using an SPL meter to judge how low a speaker's frequency response might go, let me quote Atkinson's own words from that same article: "If you plot, say, a loudspeaker's sound-pressure level against frequency for a given input voltage, the result is the typical amplitude or 'frequency' response."

In short, using an SPL meter in conjunction with a low-frequency test track is, indeed, a valid way of determining "how many [H]ertz my speakers measure for bass," in the OP's words.

REW and a UMIK-1 mic.  Software is free, mic is around $100.  Or the Dayton mic mentioned above should work.

If you’re trying to figure out room placement, the Vandertones set-up test disc is available for download on the Vandersteen website. Then all you need is an analog Radio Shack meter off of eBay.

I use an online tone generator. It shows the sine wave frequency being generated and it's pretty easy to hear when it rolls off.

Download REW to a computer, it has a tone generator and so much more. Buy a UMIK1 or Dayton mic. You'll learn a lot more than just answering your posted question.