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VU Meters: Let's See 'Em!!

Martin

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IMO, those were the glory days of audio. Sure, it was all analog, but for your dollar you could buy something, almost anything, that performed exceptionally well, and was really nice to look at. Although I admit that loudspeakers are generally a lot better today, than what was sold back then.

My first system when I moved out on my own in 1977 was a Pioneer SX-650 and a pair of Cerwin-Vega 313. It sounded darned nice. I had a pair of Cerwin-Vega D9's with the SPEC system about 15 years ago. I only had the system for a couple of years, I was going through a vintage phase. The D9's did not sound as good as I remembered the 313's sounding. Probably nostalgia. I also owned a pair of Cerwin-Vega 12-TR's for a while in the late 1980's. See a trend? :)

Martin
 

LancerFIN

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Never been a big fan of needles but this brings a smile on my face.
 

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ajawamnet

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Here is an interesting meter: The Stromtank. I think it's just a power conditioner of some sort.

View attachment 40101

Umm...that's not it. That's just the box. I know everyone wants to see the box it comes it. Below is the actual meter. I don't know what it measures, but it looks pretty cool. I guess.

View attachment 40102

Reminds me of Steely Dan's Aja.... just wow. She could sell me on whatever meter or box she has...
 

thefsb

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The best meters I've got are in Metric Halo's ChannelStrip.

For the main output stage of ChannelStrip we have provided meters driven with SpectraFoo™ metering tech-nology. These meters show, in addition to the peak metering provided for the input stages, RMS level and VUlevel. The peak level is represented by the floating colored bar, the RMS level by the solid colored bar and theVU level by the overlaid gray bar. Both the Peak and RMS level are represented with fast PPM ballistics. TheVU meter shows IEEE standard 300 ms RMS average level.

1576615688059.png

Gotta love "SpectraFoo™ metering tech-nology". I don't think I saw that hyphenated before. But seriously, ChannelStrip is the balls.
 
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solderdude

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PierreV

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I have one of those. Just 2 x STK4050 in a large cabinet. Meters look nice. Performance is nothing steller

Thanks. It seems those designs are fairly simple and documented. That's a plus given my limited abilities. :) I'll go back to the store and see if it is still there. I was thinking I could use it to drive my old Bose 901 (but not sure I still have a preamp with tape monitor).

If it is really bad, I guess another option would be to stick a couple of hypex modules in the case. :p
 

solderdude

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It's not really bad and quite usable. Just not as good performing as the meters. :)
Sufficient for 901 (with equalizer). These speakers require quite a lot of power.
 

AudioTodd

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1975 Heathkit AA-1640 power amp (a "Franken-kit" once available based upon a combination design of surplus parts from a G.A.S. Ampzilla and Marantz 510M...however: it is a serious hunk of a tank moreso than those two and similar-era Dynaco):View attachment 40150
Interesting teaser! Do you have more info or a link to the story behind the “Franken-kit” nature of the design?
 

jomark911

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When we talk vu meters.
 

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Sal1950

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Sal1950

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Sal1950

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I'm just too ole school, digital graphs don't make if for me.
I need a big of analog VU meter with a needle. :)
 
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