SPL meter worth the purchase? (1 Viewer)

Buy one. Unless this is it for your stereo - no upgrades, moving around, reconfiguration, etc. New ones are under $50 - maybe you can pick up his used one for half-price?

Buy one.

You are right NickSo. You don't have to buy it. Once you calibrate your set up, thats it no use of it again. If by any chance you move you can borrow it again. I wish I could do this but unfortunately no one that I know has one so I had to buy one from ebay. I am still waiting for it to come.

Stelios

I'd buy it and have it. If you get the upgrade bug often, you'll be recalibrating more than you think.

And besides, it's cool to be the guy with the SPL meter. You get to go to friends houses and fool around with their systems...erm I mean calibrate them.

Buy it. Its one of those tools that you might not use often but you're glad you have it when you need it. For $20 IMO its a no brainer.

I agree with Andrew. Buy it for $20.00. I paid $45.00 for one brand new two years ago. I've used it a few times. I've calibrated several friend's HT's. It is a necessary thing to own for any HT'r IMO. 20 bucks is a gimmie.

Esp considering you'd spend that on a DVD that you might get less replay out of

Given that you'll probably need to recalibrate each time you add a source component, I think it is absolutely, positively essential to have one. For what little it costs, the payback is astronomical.

When I think of how much some folks here spend on esoteric interconnects and speaker wire, it astounds me to think of NOT getting an SPL meter just to save $20 CDN - which amounts to about one evening's beer money.

Get one, repeat, it is very essential. I bought the analog one from the Shack and it has made a tremendous difference.

It's a tool well worth having. Be warned though, it may also help you find acoustical flaws that you didn't know you had! :p)

get it, Radio Shack just released a new analog model..

Anyone have the new R.S. model Arthur mentioned yet? Any performance impressions?

Other than the display, what's the differnece between RadioShack's $50 digital model and their $40 analog model. Is the extra $10 worth it?

Dean

I thought I read that the analog one was a little more accurate. Anyone?

I know that the AVIA disc recommends the analog RS meter.

...and what Stephen siad!

I bought one to make sure all my speakers were set at the same level. Now for the stupid question

I've never payed any attention to what DB levels actually were so last night I put in a one of the Lethel Weapon movies and got out the meter and watched it for a bit. I had it set to "C" and "Slow". I had the dial set to "90" and even during the various explosions and other action parts the dial bounced a bit between the -10 and -5 but never hit "0". I assume this means the "volume" never hit 90 DB's. Is that correct?

That is correct for the average or 'C' weighting. 'A' weighting will show you the peak levels and give you a fairly decent visual indication of dynamic range.

We've got underground utilities here ...but every once in a while, usually on a sunny day when the wind is hardly blowing, the power hiccups and burps ...and it's sometimes "time to recalibrate". You need a meter.

Five years ago I bought the RS digital on sale even though, everyone here recommended the analog. Personally, I'm just fine with the digital and I understand that digital is the way of the future ...you can adjust how it "rounds".