Sound Level Meter

[Willems]

Hello All,

I have a question with respect to a sound level meter.

Currently I would like to level match the trims of my receiver for all sources, so when I switch from one source to the other the level stays equal. As well as adjust the individual channel loudness for home cinema usage. I already have a REW setup and UMIK-1. Is is better to use this a SPL meter or would a handheld meter help me as well?

I have seen this one which come with a calibration certificate, however is a class II device good enough for volume testing with pink noise? https://en.trotec.com/shop/sl400-sound-level-meter.html
Or if I want to be accurate I would need far better equipment?

 

[Old_School_Brad]

For that non-critical purpose, I would use my iPhone along with the NIOSH or KRK Audio app while playing something similar, ideally the same, on the different sources.

 

[sam_adams]

I already have a REW setup and UMIK-1.

Your UMIK has a factory supplied .cal files that can be loaded into REW for either zero-degree or ninety-degree positioning of the mic. Those files have a sensitivity factor in them that allows REW to set the gain of the mic properly so that when you use the SPL Meter in REW, you will get reasonably accurate SPL readings. There's no need for any other meter type for your purpose.

 

[NTK]

Some Umik-1 comparisons with instrumentation mics can be found in this thread.

miniDSP Umik-1 USB measurement microphone real world performance review

Hello audio enthusiasts. As we all know, acoustic measurements can be extremely beneficial in designing and/or evaluating loudspeakers. As far as budget hardware is concerned, the miniDSP Umik-1 is a popular choice. The Umik-1 comes with SPL & frequency calibration. However, it doesn't fulfill...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[No. 5]

Hello All,

I have a question with respect to a sound level meter.

Currently I would like to level match the trims of my receiver for all sources, so when I switch from one source to the other the level stays equal. As well as adjust the individual channel loudness for home cinema usage. I already have a REW setup and UMIK-1. Is is better to use this a SPL meter or would a handheld meter help me as well?

I have seen this one which come with a calibration certificate, however is a class II device good enough for volume testing with pink noise? https://en.trotec.com/shop/sl400-sound-level-meter.html
Or if I want to be accurate I would need far better equipment?

The short answer is even the absolute cheapest, uncalibrated sound level meter will work just as well as any other meter (even a very expensive one with NIST traceable calibration) for level matching because you only need to know relative levels.

Class II meters are quite good, but if you are just level matching, you don't need that level of an instrument. Especially since you already have a device that will work, and considering that with a calibration file, a UMIK-1's frequency response linearity will be that of a class I meter.

The only thing I'll say about getting a handheld meter is that I find an analog one to be easier to read with some signals than any digital meter. But that's just a preference.

 

[Willems]

The short answer is even the absolute cheapest, uncalibrated sound level meter will work just as well as any other meter (even a very expensive one with NIST traceable calibration) for level matching because you only need to know relative levels.

Class II meters are quite good, but if you are just level matching, you don't need that level of an instrument. Especially since you already have a device that will work, and considering that with a calibration file, a UMIK-1's frequency response linearity will be that of a class I meter.

The only thing I'll say about getting a handheld meter is that I find an analog one to be easier to read with some signals than any digital meter. But that's just a preference.

Thanks, given the fact that the combination REW with UMIK is quite good, i'll try it with that combination ;-) I guess a handheld meter will end up lying in a corner then, which isn't very usefull ;-)