Radio Shack Analog Sound Pressure Level Meter (1 Viewer)

[WarnerL]

Hi All,
I live in Canada and the analog version of the Radio Shack SPL is not available up here. There is also none available to Canada on Ebay right now. Does anyone have a used one that they want to sell or would anyone be able to buy one new from their local Radio Shack (are they still available in the U.S.) and ship it up here.
Thanks.

 

[Andriy Zolotoiy]

That is strange, because I bought SPL meter from RS.
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Andriy Zolotoiy
My HT: http://members.home.net/azolotoiy

 

[Kevin C Brown]

You might be able to order them online from RS too.
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[Kudret]

WanerL,
Analog SPL is discontinued but you may be able to find one at a remote RS location in your province. Use the link: http://www.radioshack.ca/en/locator/default.asp
to search for SKU number 3302050 in your province. If you manage to find one, you can go to your local RS store and they will get it for you. It is $29.99. I just got one in Quebec. Good luck.

 

[Chris PC]

Kudret,
Thanks. Thats cool.
Anybody have any comments of the differences between the Digital and Analog Radio Shack SPL meters? Is there a difference in accuracy or precision or what? I like the idea of getting the less expensive one though

 

[Chris PC]

Did you find one yet? Have you gotten the store to search across Canada? I know there are still a few ones available out there so keep looking.
Let me know if the store is willing to search Canada for one. If not I'll ASK my local store to do a search and send it to your local store. Hopefully you should be able to locate one.
[Edited last by Chris PC on September 16, 2001 at 09:55 PM]

 

[WarnerL]

Hey Chris,
I did find one searching by myself at Radio Shack's website. It was located in New Brunswick. My wife has a friend that lives there and she phoned her up and as far as I know she has bought it already and it is in the mail now. The Radio Shack store in my city said they could get it for me from another store but that since it was way in the East and they only use Purolator, then it would cost me $25 or more just to send it so I decided just to get that friend to send it by regular mail. I had phoned long distance to the store in New Brunswick first to make sure they had it and the guy said that they had one and that it was still brand new and in the box. Talking with my local Radio Shack people was a hassle as they didn't really want to do any searching and kept pushing me to buy the digital one.
Thanks again for your offer to help.
Warner

 

[Guy Kuo]

The RS analog SPL meter must be a real anomaly for them. RS probably has no idea of its use in home theater and no one can understand why such an old, antiquated item sells in occasional waves.

 

[Andrea W]

Anybody have any comments of the differences between the Digital and Analog Radio Shack SPL meters? Is there a difference in accuracy or precision or what? I like the idea of getting the less expensive one though

I have the same question.
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http://darius.mobius-soft.com/~andrea/ht/

 

[Chris PC]

WarnerL,
I found one really close in a store only 1 1/2 hours away and they did a store transfer. I was worried that I got the last one! Great. I'm glad you found one. Yay!
Happy measuring
Andrew,
The difference is, you see a needle on a gauge. Some don't like the digital readout because its not as precise. The analouge shows differences in dB's that is smaller than 1 dB. So it measures fractions of dB's.
If the sound is not constant, and fluctuates, with the analog, you can make a rough estimate of the average. With the digital meter, the numbers are constantly changing, so its a little harder to read. The digital meter has a great way around this though, it can take an average over time. So you test for 5 seconds and get one reading. Pretty cool.
I bought the analouge because its more than adequate for me and costs peanuts ($29.95 plus tax CDN).
hey folks, what does the CALIBRATE thing do and whats the output for? I'll check the manual, but some people here may have feedback on what they've used them for.
[Edited last by Chris PC on September 17, 2001 at 07:26 PM]
[Edited last by Chris PC on September 17, 2001 at 07:27 PM]

 

[MarkO]

Calibrate is to reset the meter to 0. The output is for an external mic.

 

[WarnerL]

Chris,
You'll never believe this. I just received my Radio Shack SPL meter in the mail which was sent by my wife's friend in New Brunswick. Previously that day I had my wife call her friend in NB because I hadn't received it yet and was wondering when she had mailed it. Her friend relayed her story of how she went to the Radio Shack and gave the sales guy the SKU # of the SPL meter (3302050) and then even asked him again if what he gave her was the correct product for that SKU # which he said it was. She paid him $29.99 plus tax and then packaged it and sent it to me. Well when I opened the mailed package, it turns out that he gave her the Digital SPL meter instead even though he only charged her for the analog meter. Even the sales slip which she included in the package was for the analog meter but the actual SPL meter box clearly says it is a Digital meter plus the SKU # is 3302055. After all that, eh? Well, I guess I'll just use the digital meter I have now. Guess I also got a deal as the regular price for this digital meter is $90 although it is on sale right now for $65. I wonder how the sales guy could let that slip by. Go figure.
By the way, which city/store did you finally get it from? The idiot here in my local store said that supposedly there were only two in all of Ontario (Toronto had it in Yorkdale Mall and Dufferin Mall) but when I got my parents to call each store they said that they didn't have it and the
computer was wrong.
Warner

 

[Ted Lee]

there must be something going on with these things. i had to go to three rat-shacks to find one. i just found one today. the guy at one of the stores told me there were only two left in the entire city. i knew that had to be whacked.
when i went to the last store, it literally took all three salespeople digging through their backroom to find it - of course it was the last one.
i don't know what's up with these things...

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You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.

 

[Chris PC]

I searched every store in Ontario, BC, Manitoba, Alberta and Quebec. I didn't search many stores in other provinces. I searched in Ontario and I couldn't find many. I found 5 stores, but the only one that actually had one in stock was Trenton Mall. I hope I didn't snag one from you, but I guess the digital one fro the price of the analogue is ok. As long as you can use it to properly calibrate your speaker levels, you're ok.
If you want, I could ask the local store to search again, but $29.95 for a digital meter that's normally $90.00 and on sale for $65.00! Wow, thats kinda funky.
Like I said, you want me to search? It'll end up costing you more unless you sell the digital and pocket the mistake ca$h.

 

[Nathan R]

Regarding analog vs digital.
Analog is said to be much better. There was an article in soundandvision magazine (stereoreview back then) a couple of years ago explaining all the details and analog meter was highly recommended
[Edited last by Nathan R on September 18, 2001 at 06:33 PM]

 

[BruceD]

MarkO,
The RCA output connector is actually a line-level output signal that can drive an instrument such as a computer running a sound analysis software program such as ETF5. It automatically draws frequency response charts from the output of your system that is picked up by the mic in the RS meter.
www.etfacoustic.com
This Canadian software company has an inexpensive software program that allows the user to fine-tune the speaker/room interactions. They also have a really great example demo-room and tutorial at the web-site that is worth reading even if you don't get the program.
I used it to optimize my speaker position, sub crossover, and parametric equalizer (BFD 1100Pro).
[Edited last by BruceD on September 18, 2001 at 09:40 PM]

 

[Andrea W]

I just picked up an analog SPL meter at my local Radio Shack ($39.99 USD). They had plenty of them. If anyone has trouble finding one, I'd be happy to buy one for you and ship it. Although ordering from Radio Shack online would be just as easy.
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http://darius.mobius-soft.com/~andrea/ht/
[Edited last by Andrea W on September 20, 2001 at 10:58 AM]

 

[Thomas_Berg]

radioshack.com still has them in stock.
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F002%5F003%5F018%5F000&product%5Fid=33%2D2050.
[Edited last by Thomas_Berg on September 20, 2001 at 05:20 PM]