There's really big gap in this area. You can go with Radio Shack for $30, or with something like Sencore for $2000+ (very accurate and very flexible). The Radio Shack does have non-linearities, but oddly enough it is very reproducible from unit to unit. We make a test CD that compensates for the non-linearities of this meter.
recommendation of a sound level meter
I currently have a pair of Quad 988 loudspeakers, Thor Audio TP 60 monoblocks, Thor TP 2000 preamplifier and a
Cary 306/200 CD player. I am attempting to cure the
problem areas in my listening room. At this point I am not really sure what they are. It was recommended that I purchase a sound level meter to help me. Can anyone recommend a sound level meter besides Radio Shack that is
very accurate and reasonably cost effective. Thank you for any light that you can shed.
Showing 4 responses by rives
I will be checking out the IVIE33 at CEDIA. I've contacted them and they said they will give demonstrations there. It does look pretty interesting. I have examined the audio toolbox. We considered it as substitute for our test kits, but upgradability, flexibility, and being able to program our BARE software into it was pretty limited. However, for a basic one piece unit it's pretty powerful and as I recall much less expensive than the Sencore unit. The Sencore is great--well made, near bulletproof, and priced accordingly. The one thing I don't like about the Sencore and Toolbox is lack of resolution--sure you can zoom in on a graph, but that's not terribly convenient. This is one other reason we chose a laptop based system--but then again--you need a laptop, which is more to buy and more to carry. |
The full corrections are published in our instructions for use manual. If you go to our software page and download the instructions for our Test CD, there is a chart that gives the RS values. This was for the older 2050 analog meter. We have done preliminary work with the new 4050 meter and it appears to perform the same. Rives Software |
Dmitrydr: I'm not sure if I know the answer to your question as we have not tested an external mic. However, I can tell you this much: 1. The majority of the correction is for the C weighted circuitry. The remaining is for the fact that this C weighted circuitry is not quite right. 2. The external output of the RS meter is not weighted in any way and is just about flat up to around 2k. Above that the response is somewhat iradict and a better mic input would likely improve the response. Hope that helps. |