SPL meter - anyone familiar with this inexpensive model?

lex125 · Post by **lex125** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 3:04 am

http://www.audioxpress.com/bksprods/kits/kv-avm2050.htm

I don't expect it to compare to high end measurement tools, but how about compared to the Radio Shack model? Anybody used this thing?

Thanks.

lovecow · Post by **lovecow** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 9:02 am

I think you can get the RS model for about the same price—and digital!

According to the specs, it should hold its own. (The RS unit is actually quite good. I will mention that my measurements have shown that it has about a 40 dB—or so—noise floor. The frequency response was such that I'd only trust the level readings between 50 and 10,000 Hz. Also, I've purchased three or four in my time and, when calibrated, not one of them was out more than ±0.5 dB out-of-the-box for a 94 dB, 1kHz cal tone.)

Best regards,

Jeff D. Szymanski
Chief Acoustical Engineer
Auralex Acoustics, Inc.

lex125 · Post by **lex125** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 1:53 am

I think you can get the RS model for about the same price—and digital!

Funny, most of the posts that I have read over the years always recommended the non-digital variety; both with the cheap models and the high end units. My own experience with digital meters has not been good; the numbers change so fast that you can't tell what's going on. While with the standard meter, you would see the needle swinging around in a certain range.

Comments?

lovecow · Post by **lovecow** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 2:01 am

Steve,

I guess it just boils down to what you're used to. I got all my training on the very first B&K digital meter. Thus, it's what I'm personally used to. For the RS meters, there's no difference that I am aware of in functionality except the analog meter won't do "LEQ"-like time averaging of sound level:

RS Analog Meter

Best regards,

Jeff D. Szymanski
Chief Acoustical Engineer
Auralex Acoustics, Inc.