pc spectrum analyzers and why so $$$$?

I was checking into spectrum analyzers for the PC yesterday and found on that was really nice and worked like a charm, but the dang thing is $99 dollars to buy.... anyone know where to get one that might be usefull but not as expensive?

this is the one I referred to in u are interested

www.pas-products.com

thank you for any suggestions!

Brandon

$99 is a very cheap spectrum analyzer ...
many are in the ten thousand dollar range... (and up)
guess price depends on what the spectrum analyzer is used...

Hey Rock, its only software, not a hardware pice of gear.

I was wondering about that. We use spectrum analyzers here at work but I never knew they were also used in audio engineering, and could be loaded on PC's.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by recoveryone

Hey Rock, its only software, not a hardware pice of gear.

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my bad...
I wonder how well it works?

I tried a PC spectrum analyzer a few years ago, and the program I tried had multi-tiered pricing where you could download a freeware version that only analyzed 5 frequency points. More fully featured versions with more frequency points and longer sampling times would progressively cost more.

If you're primarily interested in doing technical measurements of your components and room acoustics, then you might want to take a look at the Room EQ Wizard. It was originally developed for home theater enthusiasts that want a more automated method for setting their EQs. It's a Java-based freeware program, and I've used it a few times to measure my room acoustics. It has a lot of very advanced features that I've barely scratched the surface of. Might want to give it a try.

http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/