[NCDave]

Hi Kevin. I've not used RTA.

But if you are just looking for the best place for speakers and seating, and not worried about trying to do any equalization right now, then you are doing a relative measurement, not an absolute measurement. "Relative" in this case just means "what's better"? So, I'd say you are just fine with no calibrations at all for quick-and-dirty relative measurements.

When I was looking for a good place for my sub, I just put the sub at the listening position, and played some bass tracks, while checking various possible sub locations with the RS meter. Your better because, even without a calibration, severe peaks and nulls will show up and are likely to be more-or-less valid (you'll know they are there, just not exactly what level they are at.)

This all assumes you are able to get your laptop settings and RS meter connections proper in order to get a graph to appear in RTA.

 

[NCDave]

Hmmm, already having the Line In was kind of implied in the first post...

Capmerkev, if you are thinking "Line In," but actually only have a "Mic In" on your laptop (like I have on mine), the RS meter levels will probably be too high.

Also, the external sound card that lots of people use here is not available any more (or hard to find), but they have a new version which might work ok, called "Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 24-bit USB External"

 

[NCDave]

I'm not going to be of any help here, Kevin. I'm not sure of the procedure for RTA.

I do know that the Mic In level is much different from Line In. Mic In is WAY more sensitive than Line In. So you're going to have to dial the input level way down to compensate for the relatively high output level from the RS meter.

Will it work to get a graph to appear in RTA? Yeah, maybe. If you have the time to play with it, and are not worried about damaging the Mic In, then go ahead and play. But as brucek explained, the results may not be all that meaningful. It would be interesting to see if you can get any decent curve without having a ton of noise in it.

If you are going to play, I would suggest that you try to stay in the lower end of whatever range you are using on the RS meter. That will help keep its output level lower so you don't have to use as much attenuation on the computer.