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Amateur testing hour - any suggestions for testing without specialized equipment?

shanecoughlan

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I would love to do some testing of stuff around the house. Two targets of interest right now:

Yamaha YAS 207 soundbar and sub-woofer

A pretty cheap pair of Sony NC headphones.

Any ideas on how I could get some useful data without specialized equipment?

I’m familiar with GUI or command line, Linux, MacOS or Windows, and comfortable with open source.

I have to hand some material such as a Zoom H2n recorder (pretty high fidelity stereo mics).
 

RayDunzl

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Room EQ Wizard is good (free) analysis software.

The H2N appears to have a USB interface for capturing sound.

That should get you started.

Don't expect accuracy without a calibrated measurement microphone, but, see what happens.
 

RayDunzl

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Don't expect accuracy without a calibrated measurement microphone, but, see what happens.

I have a Tascam handheld, and although it doesn't connect to the PC, it can record a test sweep for analysis.

It's way off...

I don't remember now (bought a UMIK-1 measurement mic) but the Tascam produced an excessively flavored (curvy) response line across its bandwidth.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=umik-1&__mk_ja_JP=カタカナ&ref=nb_sb_noss

Oooh... expensive there...

https://www.amazon.com/miniDSP-UMIK...ywords=umik-1&qid=1558807449&s=gateway&sr=8-1

I used to work for NEC America, and spent about a year at the "Abiko Plant" in Tennodai, trips in 1986, 1992, and 1998...

https://earth.google.com/web/search...UzcAomURAEYsUzcAomUTAGRZA3Dhu-UVAIaTgG9gw41HA

The local newspaper came to visit one day, at lunch they interviewed a few of us Gaijin.

The story was something about how nicely we "students" handled our hashi.

With a picture. I have it someplace if it hasn't turned to dust.

The hotel we stayed at has been turned into housing for a new Wedding Chapel...

https://earth.google.com/web/@35.85...8856295t,0r/data=ChMaEQoJL20vMDF3ajFuGAEgASgC

My favorite place to start an evening of adventures, run by an ex-Sumo, looks to be no longer in business (2014):

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.864...-dDLVs2g!2e0!5s20140301T000000!7i13312!8i6656
 
OP
shanecoughlan

shanecoughlan

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First tests with H4n coming soon thanks to your help :)

There is a certain charming characteristic in Japan of praising foreigners for using chopsticks well...even if most don’t. While I would hesitate to claim excessive knowledge, in my ten years here I have placed this and similar items into the bucket marked “nice things to make people feel welcome and included.” It’s either that or I have killer chopstick skills.

If you return do let me know. I’ll send you some recommendations.
 

DonH56

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REW: https://www.roomeqwizard.com/
Calibrated UMIK-1: http://cross-spectrum.com/measurement/calibrated_umik.html

I found the UMIK-1 to have less noise and wider dynamic range than the Dayton variants FWIWFM.

CSL also sells the Galaxy CM-140 SPL meter, a decent SPL meter for ~$100. Not the cheapest but as good or better than most inexpensive meters. Wish I had kept my old wideband SPL meters but REW + CSL UMIK-1 + CSL Galaxy 140 combined is much cheaper than a high-end wideband SPL meter. My CSL's corrected response essentially overlies my Earthworks M30's curve. The UMIK-1 cannot match the noise floor and dynamic range of the M30 but for about 1/10th the cost is more than adequate for normal audio use.

If you want to measure components, then a pro ADC and some of the free (or paid) software around the 'net will be a great start. For things like DACs and really high-performance components it may be hard to match an Audio Precision test set, however. Last time I looked at used AP or similar (HP/Agilent/Keysight) audio testers used ones within a couple generations of the latest were still around $10k, too rich for me. I'll just read @amirm's posts instead.
 
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