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handheld spl meter recommendations?


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omzig10 
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Joined: April 26, 2007
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Posted: April 26, 2007 at 8:35 PM / IP Logged  

I was wondering if anyone can recommend a decent handheld SPL meter for measuring in car noise.  I'm looking to test the road noise in my car before and after some sound deadening and don't need the crazy one they use for competitions that hooks up to a laptop.  I would like a decent quality handheld unit that will give accurate results.

Thanks,

Omzig10

dwarren 
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Posted: April 26, 2007 at 9:38 PM / IP Logged  
Radio Shack used to sell a digital SPL meter for under $40 and it worked well enough, but I am not sure they have them any more, just the analog version.
SoundAudio 
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Posted: April 27, 2007 at 12:59 PM / IP Logged  
Scosche makes a boom stick or whatever. It is a digital spl meter to like 135 dB, but I don't have any experience as to how accurate it is.
Good Luck!
-Thad
jeffchilcott 
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Posted: April 27, 2007 at 1:13 PM / IP Logged  
The boom stick is acurate to an A weighted meter to 120DB....Approx 7 DB inaccurate from the term lab, over 120DB its all wacky, anywhere from 7-14DB inacurate fromt he term lab.
If just testing to see reductions of road noise it would work.   but very unrealible for sound systems
My GF's car avarages 152-153DB on the tem lab, and my car is normally from 160-161db on the term lab. We had a few readings on the boom stick where she would get higher readings then my car.
The main issue is the boom stick is only intended to read a very very slect frequency range, I would guess 40-42hz like some old Audiocontrol meters, and anything higher or lower then that note will read inaurate as that is wheres its optimum sampling is at.
The term lab is the only accurate way to go, and they are not protable, you would need a power supply and a laptop to run it in car.
2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place
speakermakers 
Copper - Posts: 231
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Posted: April 28, 2007 at 2:00 AM / IP Logged  
If you have a laptop download TruRTA (free) and use any cheep mic. A $4 mic will due. This will give you accurate relative spl vs, frequency readings before and after your sound deadening. No hardware required.
The Radioshack meter is also a great buy at $49.95 and is quite reliable and accurate.
jeffchilcott 
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Posted: April 28, 2007 at 8:56 AM / IP Logged  
I will agree the radio shack meter is actually about 1-2db inconsistant with the term lab, but it does work.   The tru RTA works as well, but any mic will not read above 130db accurate, and most vocal mics are A weigheted for audio purposes, sound reduction I believe.
2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place
speakermakers 
Copper - Posts: 231
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Posted: April 28, 2007 at 7:49 PM / IP Logged  
If the intended purpose is to do a comparison of decibel readings at various frequencies and compare readings before and after sound deadening is applied, then the results are only relative to each other. Therefore the equipment that you use dose not need to be capable or calibrated for flat frequency readings. Relative comparisons are not affected by weighting or even decent frequency response.
It should be noted though that the Radio Shack SPL meter contains a fairly capable microphone. Frequency plots for the Radio Shack meter are readily available on the net. http://www.acoustisoft.com/support.html True RTA comes with a utility that allows you to account for the known frequency anomalies and automatically subtracts them. This gives you an accurate reading with in about 3db, even after you account for frequency fluctuations in your sound card. And that makes this a valuable tool for many types of acoustical measurements. If you need more accuracy than that or you need to read higher SPL (for sound deadening you won’t) then there are additional steps that you can take and better parts that you can buy to make that happen. I suggest though at that point that you look into purchasing a Phonic Paa2 RTA/SPL meter for $299.
handheld spl meter recommendations? -- posted image.

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