Woofer tester #2 for testing fullrange drivers?

[R-Carpenter]

I'll probably be banned for this but...

While I'll give you guys from the Great White North a break, This is a classic case given the choice of USA, China and lowest price, price wins every time. Want to take a guess why there are virtually no consumer goods made in the good old USA. Stop complaining about manufacturers sending jobs offshore.

Bob

That's one of the reasons I got S&L WT and not the PE version. Other reason is that S&L has more options by magnitude, it's more stable and has less hardware/software issues. It's a better product at higher price. One may also look at S&L WT as a tool with more capabilities.
In general, LIMP/ARTA will do most measurements. I keep WT as a sanity check then my Sound Easy starts acting up.

 

[Dave R]

I had an original Woofer Tester, but found it wasn't compatible with the newer versions of Windows (another controversial issue, I know). Now I own a WT3, and it's always worked reasonably well.

However, now that the "made in chiner" issue is revealed to me, I have mixed feelings. Yes it irks me. If I had known that the WT2 was available and "Made in America", the extra $60 would have been easy for me. But at the same time, I spent what I spent, and I probably won't spend again until it's time to replace, or find some features that I can't live without.

For now, I'll probably continue using it.

 

[Bob Brines]

However, now that the "made in chiner" issue is revealed to me, I have mixed feelings...

This is the lie that PE told when they named their knock-off WT3. Who wouldn't want the new and better upgrade, particularly at a lower price. Were there actually idiots that spent the $100 to upgrade their WT2 to WT3?

OK. I do not have nor will I ever have hands-on experience with WT3. Here's my experience:

I started with Speaker Workshop, a potentially great freeware measuring system, but the author abandoned it before all of the wrinkles were worked out. I build the Walin jig and got a Berringer mic ( and a Berringer 801 mixer to power it). I would spend hours fiddling with the jig and setting levels every time I tried to do a measurement.

So I bought SoundEasy. Good value for the price. Does a lot of things. But the jig and levels problems are still there. Better than SW, but still there. After buying a few annual updates, I bought Speaker Tester (S&L's mid-line product. You get a calibrated Berringer mic with the package). No more jigs. No level problems. It just works. Every time.

I have since upgraded to the to the full-blown Woofer Tester Pro. The only thing that this does for you is high-level testing. With low power full-rangers, high-level testing is probably not actually required, although testing at 1 watt is not a bad idea, but at least I have that option.

One last rant: When you talk to PE about the WT3, you get a saleman. When you talk to S&L about WT2, you talk to the designer.

Bob

 

[cross reference]

This is the lie that PE told when they named their knock-off WT3. Who wouldn't want the new and better upgrade, particularly at a lower price. Were there actually idiots that spent the $100 to upgrade their WT2 to WT3?

OK. I do not have nor will I ever have hands-on experience with WT3. Here's my experience:

I started with Speaker Workshop, a potentially great freeware measuring system, but the author abandoned it before all of the wrinkles were worked out. I build the Walin jig and got a Berringer mic ( and a Berringer 801 mixer to power it). I would spend hours fiddling with the jig and setting levels every time I tried to do a measurement.

So I bought SoundEasy. Good value for the price. Does a lot of things. But the jig and levels problems are still there. Better than SW, but still there. After buying a few annual updates, I bought Speaker Tester (S&L's mid-line product. You get a calibrated Berringer mic with the package). No more jigs. No level problems. It just works. Every time.

I have since upgraded to the to the full-blown Woofer Tester Pro. The only thing that this does for you is high-level testing. With low power full-rangers, high-level testing is probably not actually required, although testing at 1 watt is not a bad idea, but at least I have that option.

One last rant: When you talk to PE about the WT3, you get a saleman. When you talk to S&L about WT2, you talk to the designer.

Bob

This is true!100%