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Which Fluke?

Purité Audio

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I have been using an old analogue REK voltmeter but have been seduced by those new fangled ‘digital ‘ meted ,but there are so many Fluke looks pretty solid, I really only want to use it for level matching components.
Thank you all as always.
Keith
 

sergeauckland

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Fluke meters are pretty good, but not really the right tool for what you are trying to do. They're intended for AC measurements at 50/60hz, not the full audio frequency range. Fluke are better than most, but still not the best tool. The analogue audio millivoltmeter you showed a photo of in a past post is the right tool.

Whilst for level matching, any errors in frequency response will be the same for both, it still feels wrong from an engineering perspective. Right tool and all that.

S.
 

Speedskater

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Fluke makes many meters for different applications. Any of their wide frequency band True RMS meters will do the job.
For 'level matching' accuracy doesn't matter, but repeatability does.
Actually any meter with reasonable frequency response will do, it doesn't need to be True RMS.
A low voltage AC range is needed. Then you can check the frequency response with a 20 Hz to 20 kHz test track.
 
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Purité Audio

Purité Audio

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Thank you chaps, actually dug out the old REK and it does work I just needed to reacquaint myself with it!
Having said I still would quite like a Fluke!
Keith
 

maverickronin

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Lots of RMS AC ranges on multimeters work up to 400hz or a bit higher because that's what aircraft AC systems run at. I have a Fluke 115 and these are it's specs for AC RMS.

AC millivolts True RMS
Range/resolution 600.0 mV / 0.1 mV
Accuracy 1.0% + 3 (DC, 45 Hz to 500 Hz) 2.0% + 3 (500 Hz to 1 kHz)

AC volts True RMS
Range/resolution 6.000 V / 0.001 V 60.00 V / 0.01 V 600.0 V / 0.1 V
Accuracy 1.0% + 3 (DC, 45 Hz to 500 Hz) 2.0% + 3 (500 Hz to 1 kHz)

If you level match at <500Hz it should be pretty accurate.
 

RayDunzl

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I still would quite like a Fluke!

I have a Fluke 87 that I liberated from Nortel as they were beginning to liquidate themselves 21 years ago.

There was a big pile of gear that came back to Photon Beach (Boca Raton) from the field, and we figured ir would all just be sold for scrap, so we picked through the piles of stuff we were "inventorying" and saved whatever we figured we might find a use for someday from that ignominious fate .

If I were buying one now I'd probably just pick a "looks good" generic model from somebody, for casual use.

Too bad there weren't any (at least a pair, I guess) of these!

nortern-electric-amplifier-1922.png
 
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RayDunzl

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Moonbase

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Here in the UK I purchase a Fluke because it's one of the few RS Components can calibrate. Having said that I test a few other basic meters and they were really close on Volts/Resistance
 

levimax

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+1 on Fluke. They are made for professional use on a bench or in the field and the mechanical quality and durability is complete overkill for light "home/ hi-fi" use but I just love using mine. While more expensive you definitely get something for the extra cost and in my case it is a "luxury" I can afford..... and it will last the rest of my life.
 

BDWoody

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+1 on Fluke. They are made for professional use on a bench or in the field and the mechanical quality and durability is complete overkill for light "home/ hi-fi" use but I just love using mine. While more expensive you definitely get something for the extra cost and in my case it is a "luxury" I can afford..... and it will last the rest of my life.

Yeah, I bought a used 87V and have never regretted it. I don't use it every day, but at least once a week I'm grabbing it for something. Don't expect I'll have to replace it either.
 

BDWoody

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Fluke 87V is the bee's knees. I liked it so much I gave mine to my son as a Christmas present a few years ago.

View attachment 331887

Very nice gift!

It is also nice to have in the back of my mind that this thing is rated up to 1000v, were I to ever need to deal with high voltages. Not sure how much I'd trust some of these free with a tank of gas meters with that kind of task.
 

DonR

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Very nice gift!

It is also nice to have in the back of my mind that this thing is rated up to 1000v, were I to ever need to deal with high voltages. Not sure how much I'd trust some of these free with a tank of gas meters with that kind of task.
haha... yeah it is a little underrated for his work :D but perfectly safe for home use.
 

Neddy

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HUGE Fluke fan here.
I ran a tech support operation with >100 techs, and I saw to it that all of them had both 87s and Scopemeters (now long since obsolete, but hugely revolutionary in the 90s). I spent a good bit of time at the (then) Fluke headquarters near Chicago and was treated like royalty -their support and training were second to none.

Unfortunately, I did NOT snag any of them upon my (non-voluntary) departure (others, being craftier, Did) but I did buy some off ebay after I retired.
(Keep in mind that my old National Semiconductor (!), Hitachi, and Radio Shack (!!!) meters from the 70s are still working just fine!)

I ended with a 187, but mistakenly thought I was ordering the one with a USB data logger (this one only has internal logger) port. Otherwise, it's a beast - and amazingly fits rather nicely in a mini-festool case.

Best deal though was (may still be) an ex-US air force 27/FM, in original carrying case, as they are regularly calibrated (mine was last calibrated in 2015) - apparently the air force upgrades every few years, so these types of things are fairly common. High volt 'wand' is a nice 'will never need' accessory.

Both are TrueRMS. The 27 is actually a bit larger than the 187!

Read thru various specs (Flukes are - were? - known for accurate specs) to meet your specific freak (freq) requirements.

One thing I found more and more helpful over time was backlit displays, so something you might want to include in your considerations.

Oh, and though there are fine fluke meters made for the domestic chinese market, I've found the few of these I looked at a bit too, uh, unweighty?
Durability has to be a consideration on all these things, esp if you work on ladders or outdoors or construction sites.

And watch out for counterfits.

That spreadsheet is extremely useful for comparing features on 'older' (ie ebay) fluke meters.

IMG_9229.pngIMG_9232.pngIMG_9236.pngIMG_9234.pngIMG_9235.png
 
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