You wouldna be worried I'd be coming after ye now, would you Mr. Mix? tsk,tsk tsk….

Ryan: If you do not use an SPL meter or even any type of volume based analysis, how do you know which frequencies are impacted by room nodes and therefore, how to correct those room problems by using tube traps and other sound absorbing materials? If I remember correctly, you are a huge advocate of correcting the room and not using EQs to correct these room induced problems.

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Take Care,
merc

I don't listen to my system with a SPL meter, so why should I use one to tune it?

Why not trust your ears here as much as in other cases?


brianca..

/sarcasm mode
I don't look at my pictures with a light meter, so why should I use one when I take pictures?
/sarcasm mode

OK, that's an irrelevent comparison (mostly). But the fact remains that some people find an SPL meter helpful. Hell, even if it's nothing more than wishful thinking, it's cheap ($30) wishful thinking! Personally, I've found that I can get my system adjusted to a point that I like more quickly with some help from a meter than with my ear alone (which means I can be enjoying it sooner), so I use one. Personal preference. YMMV.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

A sound level meter is useful for establishing a baseline level of the main LCR speakers, with the level of the surrounds. A $30 Radio Shack meter is all that is needed - in fact the daily level balance tests on movie dubbing stages is done with this very meter. If you want to make adjustments in the relative levels after that, then do so, knowing that you can always go back to the 'standard' setting. Keep one thing in mind though, and this is a big one; the pink noise tests on consumer DVDs (and the internal pink noise generator in components) is band limited to a narrow range of frequencies. If your surround speakers, say, have much different frequency response than the main LCRs in the range of the pink noise band, then your results will be skewed. Professionally, it is done with full bandwidth pink noise. In the end, some by-ear tweaking will almost certainly be needed.

[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited August 13, 2002).]

Brian: (Let me try to explain it to you.) Because, matching volume levels is a quantitative determination most easily done with an electronic measuring device. If you can design and build a $40 device which will simply tell me qualitatively, which unit I will like best and by how much, it would save me alot of time by not having to carefully listen to a bunch of different components.

Better yet, once you determine what easily measurable quantitative data can define the sound that I prefer qualitatively, then all I'd need to do is read those manufacturer supplied data and determine which unit I'd like best without even listening or measuring them at all.

Then again, this would turn a hobby into simply a buying club.


[This message has been edited by merc (edited August 13, 2002).]

Just a side note! I’m just curious, was anyone else told by the RS guy “you can not return this meter”? Apparently they have a problem with people purchasing SPL meters so they can tell the police exactly how noisy their neighbors are! Then they try to return the meter. I told the salesman I didn’t think that would be a problem.

Sorry, guys. It was just a joke. Back in the hole. I love science when it agrees with me too.


brianca..

PS-- I do use an SPL meter and I did do a blind test between the 950 and 1066. Call me crazy.

Brian: That's great. If you feel the need to do a blind test to convince yourself you heard what you thought you heard, and somewhat remove yourself from any bias you might have, that is a good thing for you. I have no problem with anyone doing a clinical trial for their own verification. It is just that most of the time, IMO, differences between components can be heard, preference can be determined based on those identified differences, and the need for any further verification of what you heard is un-necessary and a waste of time and money. This is expecially true if careful listening helps you determine that the cheaper unit is as good or better than the more expensive ones.

What matters to each of us is that we are happy with our purchases and that, in our mind, they were cost effective ones. How each of us comes to that calm conclusion is irrelevant to anyone else but ourselves.

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Take Care,
merc