Full Range Measurements with REW - What Equipment?

[Drizt]

Hi Guys,

I have had a little play around with REW using my radio shack SPL meter buts its pretty apparent that its not really up to the task for full range measurements.

I did a quick search for "Full Range" etc, but didn't quite find what I was after. Can you guys please tell me what equipment is necessary to make accurate full range measurements. I assume a mic pre-amp and mic would be required, but what are the ones to look at for accuracy (with price a constraint)?

I have had a mate recommend the following,

Rolls Mini-Mic Preamp, Legend Instrument Condenser Mic........with cables around $300 or less.

What do you guys think of the above suggestion?

Can you make some other suggestions for me?

Regards

Drizt

[terry j]

Hi Drizt

you'll need a mic obviously, and about the cheapest is the behringer ecm 8000, around $100 here in Australia, prob less if shop around. Use the generic cal file off the shack.

Then you will need to get those measurements into the computer, so some sort of mixer with phantom power is reqd. I use the behringer xenyx 802, about $110 but shop around. With Behringer gear they usually give you a discount straight away!

mic leads, not expensive say $20 a pop, and even a mic stand from any old music store, say $50.

Still use the R/S meter to set the sound level (I don't usualy bother with it, as long as I have a good signal I just tell it it is 75 db and off I go).

Off hand can't think of anything else, good to see another aussie, hope they keep coming ha ha.

see ya

[Drizt]

Thanks very much Terry J, good to see a familiar face around

Just curious, how is the behringer gear regarded in terms of accuracy?

[terry j]

Ultimately I suppose it is not as accurate as some (most?) but then again, it all depends on what level of accuracy you need.

It is certainly more accurate than the R/S meter (isn't it?? ha ha) and gets the job done.

If you are using it to get an idea of what you mains are like FR wise (else you wouldn't need full range measurements) who cares if it is one or two db out here and there, as you won't be doing anything to change it anyway!

If you use it from your seat then it matters even less that it might be out a bit, and a mic costing ten times as much will not give you any more information in that situation anyway.

Drizt, I can see you are new here and so probably don't know the procedure and what happens next.

What happens next is that someone comes along and corrects everything I just said ha ha, because as you will find there are a lot of very knowledgable people here and they are very helpful too! (well maybe not on this post, as it is pretty straight forward.) Browse around, there is a lot to be learnt here.

[Drizt]

Thanks Terry J.

If I find that my tweeter is running hot then I can make a change to rectify it

[alan monro]

Drizt wrote:

Thanks Terry J.

If I find that my tweeter is running hot then I can make a change to rectify it

YES,.Give your bird tons of water and shift the cage to the cool outside Seriously , How do you know if your tweeter is running to hot?? . Have you felt it and it appears hot ? . I can imagine if one overdrives a speaker it may get warm before it blows out , but not get hot to touch. If the tweeter is getting hot replace it with a more powerfull unit . Kind regards Alan.

[Glyptoron]

Hi Drizt,

I'm using this german kit. It's a very good deal and the price is around 300 AUD including postage.
http://www.content.ibf-acoustic.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=30&products_id=35
It's the one recommended for ETF5.
You can ask any question to Mr Frank, you'll get an answer.
Cheers.
Bernard

[brucek]

I'm using this german kit. It's a very good deal

Looks like a nice mic and pre-amp. Did you get a calibration file with it?

brucek

[Glyptoron]

Hi Bruce,

The calibration file is included in the kit on a 3.5" diskette.
It's not a "standard" calibration file. It's the appropriate file of the mic you purchase.
Indeed, it's a good mic and the pre-amp works with a 9 V battery. No noise from AC current.
Regards.
Bernard

[brucek]

The calibration file is included in the kit on a 3.5" diskette

You can easily create a meter.cal file from it that would work with REW. The REW cal files are simple txt based.

brucek