Poll: Do you own Avia/VE + Radio Shack spl meter (1 Viewer)

[Ned]

Many of us consider these essential tools but we often see people mentioning that they "can't afford, don't need, don't want to bother with, etc" even after spending thousands on nice receivers and speakers.
Myself, I've had the Rat Shack meters for about 11 years (bought it when I was 16 and pretty much broke).
Avia: yes
RS meter: yes
I rented the VE laserdisc once but found it confusing :frowning:

 

[Dan Joy]

YES

YES

 

[Norman Short]

Yeah, I have the SPL meter and Avia for calibrating my system. When I first bought the system I have now I already had the meter from Radio Shack but I only rented Video Essentials. It worked fine, but I finally decided it was too much hassle to try to rent a test disc every time I changed something and wanted to calibrate again. So I looked at the various discs out there and it seemed the prevailing opinion was Avia was a slightly better test disc than VE. I bought it and haven't looked back. It's great when you get a chance to do something like try a new amp out in the setup and be able to quickly calibrate both with and without it.

Yeah, way too many people overlook this crucial step. For grins once I tried to set up the system by ear and then tested to see how far off I was. Only about 15db off with the sub and too high on the surrounds. At first calibrated levels didn't sound quite as impressive as when I had the sub way-too-hot, but it takes little time to realize the overall sound is better when everything is balanced.

Norman Short

 

[Rob Lloyd]

Yes and Yes

Just got Avia and haven't had a chance to even unwrap it though - maybe Friday since I have the day off and my wife doesn't.

 

[Phil Iturralde]

AVIA: Yes ($25.85 / 2001)
RS Analog Meter: Yes (1st unit 1977 $15 @ garage sale/present model $34.95 / 1995/6)
Video Essentials - 1st REF CAL DVD & 28th DVD purchased ($36 / 1998)
Sound & Vision HT Tune Up ($12.99 @ Fry's / 2002)
Phil

 

[Hank_P]

Yes

Yes

 

[GabrielC]

RadioShack SPL Meter: Yes (Dad had it from eons ago)

Avia: Nope....want to get one, but it's pretty expensive to ship from the US. Ned, where'd you get yours?

 

[Neil Joseph]

Yes and Yes

moved to polls

 

[John Garcia]

Yes, and yes. I have VE, S&V, and RS analog SPL meter.

 

[Paul Clarke]

Rat Shack analog, VE on LD, Avia DVD.

 

[Dheiner]

Yes/Yes + Yes

VE first, then SPL meter, then Avia

 

[Darrel McBane]

Yes to both.
These should be mandatory before one even joins HTF.
{proof of purchased supplied upon registration }

 

[Mike Main]

YES 2

Mike

 

[Jim Prillaman]

VE: Yes

RS SPL Meter: Yes

 

[Ned]

Gabriel-
Ordered it from Kencranes. Price was about 35 usd. Pretty expensive but worth the cost. If i charged my friend rental fees for borrowing it, it'd be paid for by now

 

[Adil M]

yes and yes

Poll is biased, b/c a lot of the no's won't answer else their "HTF audiophilehood" be in question.

 

[DanaA]

yes and yes

 

[Scott_G]

SPL and VE

 

[Chuck C]

Yep x 2

 

[Edwin_Z]

I have sound and vision and the spl meter. Here is a question: Will I gain anything, (if so please descibe) by also buying the Avia?