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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.
kjl
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
sean...The RS meter digital resolution is one dB which is probably better than you can read with a needle. As I mentioned, the digital display includes a bargraph display which shows dynamics, and is (IMHO) easier to follow than a needle.
sean
6,231 posts
 
El: The analogue meter offers pretty reasonable scaling and can easily be "guesstimated" to within a .25 - .33 dB on a steady state tone. When trying to chart something, a broad but shallow dip or peak can be quite evident to the ear. With only a 1 dB resolution on the digital meter, it could easily go un-noticed.

Other than that, i guess you take your boat and i'll take mine. Either way, with a stock RS meter, we are both paddling against the tide : ) Sean
>
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Sean...Yes, analog (sorry analogue) meters can be guesstimated to fractional division resolution. When I was in college I had a professor who could read ten decimal places off a 4-inch circular slide rule that he kept in his shirt pocket. The 1 dB quantization of the digital meter represents "within 0.5dB" with no guesswork (or eyesight) required.

Fair enough...you take your boat. I'll hop on the jet. :) Ed
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
Are the "corrections" for the RS Meter how much you need to add or susbtract to the meter reading or how far off the meter reading are? For example:

Does "30Hz +3" mean that a 80dB reading is really 83 or 77
zargon's avatar
zargon
453 posts
 
Pubul57,

You need to add the corrections at each frequency. So an 80db measured reading at 30hz is really 83db when corrected.
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