John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Wasn’t sure where to place this one on the forum.

I’ve had an NTI NL1 for over 15 years for taking room measurements when consulting. It’s been incredibly valuable, but it’s long in the tooth and needs repair.
I’m really loving the idea of the XL2. NTI is giving me a loaner for a studio consultation coming up. I’ll be taking Leq measurements (A and Z) for environmental noise and meeting with the Architect. I’ll be able to give a writeup on how to proceed to fall into required noise level goals.

But that had me thinking about other options. I really love the way NTI is going out of their way to let me play with the XL2 and it has so many options for STI as well as electrical measurements. They have top notch support.
However in the last 15 years there have been other advancements and the XL2 is several years old now itself. Bedrock springs to mind with the SM90.

So to the Consultants here, what sort of experience do you have with these newer devices? Keep in mind that most of my clients are live music venues and sound stages for video production.

Thanks.

i would go with the XL2 - quality product and can do vibration monitoring. as a note: i've used both the XL2 and the SM90 and find the XL2 to be the better product. that said, when doing critical measurements i rent some Extech gear and some of the NTI (a dodecahedron for example). you're better test equipment rental places will have some higher end stuff like the NTi FX100. of course you want all this to go into your computer for serious detailed analysis and modeling.

as a note: my general go-bag has an old Radio Shack digital meter ($35 - calibrated annually), omni mic ($150 - calibrated), tape measure ($10), notebook ($2), laptop w/ REW (~$500), and bass amp ($250). and this works in about 90% of my testing needs. so of course consider your budget to purchase versus the (2x? year) rental of serious gear.

The XL2 seemed to start small like the minirator. It has grown to be a fully fledged Class 1 Type Approved Platform.
Their support here, Charles Greene, is the epitome of helpful.
The device is a bit long in the tooth, so the screen is shamed by any phone. But it is the way of such equipment to have very long lifespans.
As Glenn said, the software and a Laptop are really intrinsic to the XL.
Also echoing Glenn. I used iOS apps from faberacoustical.com and studiosixdigital.com
You really don't want to be wandering around a nightclub with an XL in hand!

Great replies! Thank you both kindly!

Using the XL2 right now. It’s running while I’m out for a coffee. This one is loaded with Sound Criteria measurements as well. I don’t need that, but you bet your butt I’m playing with it.

Excited to get it all into the computer for a nice writeup. Thanks again!

Nice one. Let us know how you get on with the computer side of it. I am about to buy a Laptop to get into that.
Just for perspective..... take a look at Svantek. They seem to be gaining traction on this continent.

Dan the visual component is really helpful. It made things very clear for the client and allowed me to make them understand *why* we need to take certain steps.
There are many more details that can be added as well.

One more. I love that you can add markers and omit areas. For example when I walked out of the building and closed the door.

Thanks Jeremiah, that is very encouraging.