SPL Meter

[jamison162]

Which Rat Shack meter should I get - the analog one or the digital - the digital is $10 more. Experienced user opinions????

[EdwardGein]

Which Rat Shack meter should I get - the analog one or the digital - the digital is $10 more. Experienced user opinions????

I thought the digital is easier to use as its easier to read. Someone on this board said the analog one was more accurate. As an experiment a friend of mine brought his analog and he used my digital SPL at the same time sumultaneously and the results were the same but the digital was easier to read & use.

[kexodusc]

Doesn't really matter, neither is more accurate than the other, you'll need to download the compensation factors for these (at least they're consistently inaccurate :D )
I prefer the analog because the digital ones to gauge the "center" of the needle swing, whereas the digital ones in this price range might be more prone to pick outliers to feed the display (which might be why some say it's less accurate?).

[jamison162]

Doesn't really matter, neither is more accurate than the other, you'll need to download the compensation factors for these (at least they're consistently inaccurate :D )
I prefer the analog because the digital ones to gauge the "center" of the needle swing, whereas the digital ones in this price range might be more prone to pick outliers to feed the display (which might be why some say it's less accurate?).

Didn't fully understand what you were saying there. Also what compensation factors?
I thought the meter was just to give you a visual to adjust your 5.1 system. What do you use a the standard/control? Center? Don't you sit in one spot (i.e. the best seat in the house, right in front of your tv/system) and adjust all of your fronts, center and surrounds to give the same volume level at the spot?

[kexodusc]

The analog unit has a needle like a speedometer that tends to swing back and forth a few dB's around the average signal...the digital meter supposedly reads an average signal and presents it...

The Radio Shack SPL meters tend to be inaccurate below 200 Hz. Luckily, people all over the web have determined by how much the meters are off at specific dB's so you can get better readings...Do a search on Radio Shack SPL meters here and I'm sure you'll find a link to the compensation values...I don't have them with me.

[Astro]

i us the digital one, i set up my the level of me speakers , but probably the best thing i like about it is the max buton, i set it to c and to slow and press it to max , this gives me the maximum level heard when a loud explosion happens on a dvd scene,.
Loudest so far was 118 db.
never used the analog so cant say which i like better, but for now the digital works fine

[EdwardGein]

No matter what the SPL says, I'd go by your ears only. On my Denon, I get the best sound by putting all the DB's at 0 on all my speakers and the sub at +2. If I go by the Denon testing and SPL meters there would a variance on all the speakers with a range from -2 to +2. For my ears when I listened to CD's and DVD's on 5.1 sound (in the case of CD's all natural 5 speakers sound) for my ears the overall sound is better and more balanced. What all these tests and SPL readings don't factor in is that your hearing in each ear may be different as well as your hearing range. I think they assume all people have the same generic hearing range.
:D :D :D :D

[cam]

Which Rat Shack meter should I get - the analog one or the digital - the digital is $10 more. Experienced user opinions????
I have the digital one. Now I think why people like the analog one better is that they can see exactly where the needle points to to get their reading, and the digital one displays the number in big bold numbers. It does not display anything between lets say 75 db and 76db. The analog one you can see because of the needle so the needle may point to somewhere between 75 and 76db. But somepeople don't know that the digital one also has a bar graph so in actualality you can fine tune between whole numbers.

[Quagmire]

Didn't fully understand what you were saying there. Also what compensation factors?
I thought the meter was just to give you a visual to adjust your 5.1 system. What do you use a the standard/control? Center? Don't you sit in one spot (i.e. the best seat in the house, right in front of your tv/system) and adjust all of your fronts, center and surrounds to give the same volume level at the spot?
For the purposes of speaker calibration/balancing, you don't need the compensation factors, although you will generally get better results if you use a test DVD such as Avia rather than the test tone generator on your receiver. The compensation factors are for EQ'ing purposes; trying to flatten each speaker's frequency response when using the radio shack SPL meter. Rives Audio also makes a test CD which has tones already adjusted for use with the RS meter. But if you're not going to be EQ'ing you don't need either.

Q

[Quagmire]

No matter what the SPL says, I'd go by your ears only. On my Denon, I get the best sound by putting all the DB's at 0 on all my speakers and the sub at +2. If I go by the Denon testing and SPL meters there would a variance on all the speakers with a range from -2 to +2. For my ears when I listened to CD's and DVD's on 5.1 sound (in the case of CD's all natural 5 speakers sound) for my ears the overall sound is better and more balanced. What all these tests and SPL readings don't factor in is that your hearing in each ear may be different as well as your hearing range. I think they assume all people have the same generic hearing range.
:D :D :D :D
I respect your opinion... or maybe it would be more accurate to say that I respect your right to have an opinion, but I don't agree with your conclussions. It is irrelevant what the variance between the speaker's calibration settings are; the numbers by themselves are meaningless in terms of balancing speaker output levels -- in other words, it isn't important to try and keep the numbers closely grouped together. What is important is that the sound level of each speaker be as closely matched as posible as measured by an SPL meter.

Also, your settings for personal preference with regard to various DSP modes, such as 5 speaker sound are not related to the correct levels for playback of DD & Dts encoded sources. There is no correlation between the two as there is no standard or reference for these DSP modes and you should rightly listen to them however you like. But there are standard references for DD & Dts playback. This is a topic which came up awhile back and I don't know if you were in on that thread or not.

It is your system and of course you can and will listen to it however you like, but to suggest that "correctly" balancing speakers for DD & Dts playback is best done by ear is just not a tenable statement. Sorry! I have to disagree with you.

Q

[Woochifer]

Get the analog model because it's cheaper and it allows you to take the SPL measurements in 0.5 db increments. The digital model only displays the readings in whole number multiples.

Also, the analog model is more frequently used than the digital model. Because of this there are plenty of correction charts on the web for the analog Radio Shack SPL meter (basically, the mic on the SPL meter is less sensitive as you go into the low frequencies, and you need to correct the values). Not sure if the digital model uses the same correction values.

[cam]

Get the analog model because it's cheaper and it allows you to take the SPL measurements in 0.5 db increments. The digital model only displays the readings in whole number multiples.

Also, the analog model is more frequently used than the digital model. Because of this there are plenty of correction charts on the web for the analog Radio Shack SPL meter (basically, the mic on the SPL meter is less sensitive as you go into the low frequencies, and you need to correct the values). Not sure if the digital model uses the same correction values.
Hey Wooch, the digital one does only display whole numbers you are right, but, at the bottom there is a bar gragh that lights up. You could be setting up your speakers at 75 db where your left and center read (whole number) 75db but one of those speakers reads not only 75db but one bar is lite more on the bar gragh. If your receiver adjusts in .5db increments then you now know that (even though they are both reading 75db) that one is higher or lower by probably .5db. For me, my receiver does not fine tune to .5db increments but if it did I could still level match just as good as an analog one.

[Woochifer]

Hey Wooch, the digital one does only display whole numbers you are right, but, at the bottom there is a bar gragh that lights up. You could be setting up your speakers at 75 db where your left and center read (whole number) 75db but one of those speakers reads not only 75db but one bar is lite more on the bar gragh. If your receiver adjusts in .5db increments then you now know that (even though they are both reading 75db) that one is higher or lower by probably .5db. For me, my receiver does not fine tune to .5db increments but if it did I could still level match just as good as an analog one.

Thanx for clairfying. I'd always wondered how you were supposed to read those bar segments along the bottom!

I guess it comes down to preference. Generally, I can get a much quicker read by looking at an analog gauge than a digital readout. And I don't know if the digital SPL meter uses the same mic as the analog model. All of the correction charts that I've seen posted around the web correspond to the analog model.