Spectrum Analyzer (R.T.A.)...

[oldschool4life 0]

What's a good Spectrum Analyzer to start with???

Something cheap to start with (to adjust that EQ I'm getting soon).

Edited March 27, 2006 by oldschool4life

[Tirefryr 1,742]

YOu mean RTA which will have the spectrum analyzer built into it. The Spectrum Ananlyzer is nothing more than a display to display the measurement information. Wait for M5 to chime in as he has the best experience around here with measuring equipment.

[JimJ 11]

Behringer makes a nice 61-band unit for around $300, IIRC...all you need is a flat-response mic to go with it.

[oldschool4life 0]

No Behringer...

...I'll take a Rane.

Any others???

[jntar 15]

I bought the WinMLS system from DennisP. I love it. Easy to use, great features, and also has time allignment. Definatly something to look into. Software, external soundcard, and mic for ~$200 or less depenging on what SC and mic you get.

I also have a TL RTA, not a bad unit. You still need a mic and sound card. So for $199+the mic and sound card isnt bad, but for less features you would think it were cheaper.

[///M5 2,833]

I use a Bruel & Kjaer Pulse system, or a Polytec DMS system; however, the cheaper of the two is in the realm of $40k. For speaking testing the WinMLS system I have heard is good, the concern you are going to have there is with the data acquisition and microphone. I am a big fan of measurement mics, but again they start in the $1500 realm--all of which is way overkill for what you are doing. Another semi-pro option is to use a TEF analyzer. They are used by A LOT of speaker manufacturers who are too cheap to buy "real" gear.

If you go with a soundcard based solution beware and get a real soundcard and when I say real I mean a Proaudio card. My preference is for a desktop machine since laptop cards are outrageous and then it will let you use your desktop machine as a better CD player than anything else you have. Get another hardrive and you have a media center.

When you reference cheap it scares me. A cheap soundcard can be off by more than 8db by 10kHz and easily by that below 100Hz. It is easy to test, just take the output from your card and wire it to the input and run your measurement. Shocked me when I did my dell laptop and it was off as I stated before. My M-audio card is less than a .2db off which is way below the uncertainty of any mic in the cheap realm.

Feel free to dig around and if you find something, I'd be glad to read its specs for you and translate for you.

[oldschool4life 0]

Here's what I found:

http://industrialaudiocontrol.com/product....650&l1=5650&l2=

http://www.rane.com/ra30.html

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cf...tNumber=392-210

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.c...=50&rak=390-805

[///M5 2,833]

What do you have for an eq?

[oldschool4life 0]

Still shopping...

1. Memphis 30 band

2. Kicker's 30 band

3. Eclipse's 30 band

4. Audio Control's 13 band/Crossover (EQX)

5. Audio Control's 13 band (EQL)

6. PPI

[///M5 2,833]

Your making this tough on me, I hate PDF files!

The first one is a class II (ie your ear is more accurate). Unless I can see a better spec it is Poo.

The Rane doesn't state its spec, but I have a gut feel it is better. Only does 1/6 octaves which to me isn't enough though.

The first PE unit is also class II.

And the last has crap for specs.

If you see something that is class 2 it will be accurate to about 2dB at 1kHz and by 10kHz its spec gets loosened to 6dB. At that point, I wouldn't even bother with an instrument. The RadioShack SPL meter is also a class 2 device. You could buy one of those for $30 or whatever and just use 31.5, 63,... sine waves and measure each frequencies SPL. It will be just as accurate as any of the above.

At least with WinMLS you can choose your frontend/data acquisition by picking a good soundcard. The s.card is what determines the accuracy, plus you get MLS excitation which allows synthesized anechoic measurements in a reflective field.

Also, just like that people like to see higher octave slopes on their crossovers...I really like to have more resolution that 1/6th or 1/3 octaves. The unit I use can measure in sub Hz, instead of really large bins giving you a much better result when working with parametrics.

I am not saying go WinMLS since I have never used it, but I would surely look towards separating the acquistion and frontend from the package--as long as you have a cpu.

[oldschool4life 0]

What about...

http://www.termlab.com/storefront/

[///M5 2,833]

I have no faith in the TL product, and have actually posted here and other places looking for technical documentation on the TL sensors as I do not believe that a pressure transducer can be sensitive enough and have the dynamic range to do what they promise. I have seen no results, specs, or real comparisons. TL slams on other technologies, but have never compared themselves to a true measurement mic and analyzer.

Again, what I will tell you is accurate is a good sound card with reasonable microphone. I would buy a computer driven unit and go from there.

[///M5 2,833]

Oh, you have to realize that these 1/nth octave analyzers are supposed to follow IEC requirements for the method that they use to compute totals. I guarantee since none of these follow the standards that if you ran a mic in parallel to all of them at once each one would give you a different reading at each level. Nobody hardly at all follows the right standards except measurement companies such as: B&K, Larson Davis, LMS, 01dB, Oros, and so on. All of their analyzers will be over $5k to start out with.

On the same note there is NO STANDARD at all for FFT analyzers, but IMO using one of those which is cheap, pc driven, and most importantly REPEATABLE will give you real results that you can tune your car to. Almost all software driven FFT's can "compute" 1/3 octaves and display as you are asking as well. No, they don't follow a standard but nothing your looking at does either. What they do is allow you to buy a really accurate Pro Audio device for cheap that is a way better front end then on their electronics.

Unless you pull out some smoking gun, you won't get my approval until you switch to something that at least has a decent a/d chip on it. To my knowledge you will only find those on a pc driven device at such a low price point.

[oldschool4life 0]

What will work with a laptop?