I was about to jump into a full suite of test equipment for designing and testing audio equipment and circuits, particularly for speakers and drivers. But decided before I divested myself of several thousand dollars for a full suite of test equipment including scope, tone generator and etc, how much of this equipment can virtual and be a simple plug-in software for a PC. I surely do not need another shelf full of test goodies if I can get away without it.
Any links or downloads to information would be great, especially for an audio tone generators, frequency counters, and oscilloscopes.
Thank you,
Surf, Sun & Sound
Any links or downloads to information would be great, especially for an audio tone generators, frequency counters, and oscilloscopes.
Thank you,
Surf, Sun & Sound
Test gear
You could try a good quiet, but inexpensive sound card (e.g. SBLive) and SpectraLAB or similar. It can do FFT, THD, THD+N, etc.
http://www.soundtechnology.com for more info.
Also http://www.purebits.com
Andy.
You could try a good quiet, but inexpensive sound card (e.g. SBLive) and SpectraLAB or similar. It can do FFT, THD, THD+N, etc.
http://www.soundtechnology.com for more info.
Also http://www.purebits.com
Andy.
The investment really depends on how serious a designer you want to become. We use CLIO-lite for measurement and testing, combined with LspCAD Pro for enclosure and XO design. These 2 combined cost roughly $1200; and are really everything needed for designing and testing advanced loudspeakers systems.
I'm currently using a setup of Leadtek Winfast 4X (CMedia CMI8738 chip) and Sony MDS-JE520 minidisk player for AD/DA conversion connected to pc with optical cables....
As software I use SpectraLab (for amp distortion etc. measurements) and JustMLS (for loudspeaker frequency, impedance and phase response measurements). With one minidisk one can achieve either a very good DA or AD conversion. On the other hand this is what is mostly needed. I have a test cd with test tones. So with amp measurements I use my cd player as a signal source (the player is heavily tweaked Marantz CD67mkII). It has very low noise and distortion figures and makes a good enough source for such measurements. For loudspeaker testing I use the pc soundcard analog out as signal source, as it is good enough for that task, and measurement mic through mic preamp to minidisk analog in and digitally to pc...
Anyway, such a measurement setup is very affordable. I bought the minidisk used so it was additional price cut. Plus such a setup gives a benefit of real good sound from pc for watching movies etc. I also own a SB Live but the MD is still another level...
As software I use SpectraLab (for amp distortion etc. measurements) and JustMLS (for loudspeaker frequency, impedance and phase response measurements). With one minidisk one can achieve either a very good DA or AD conversion. On the other hand this is what is mostly needed. I have a test cd with test tones. So with amp measurements I use my cd player as a signal source (the player is heavily tweaked Marantz CD67mkII). It has very low noise and distortion figures and makes a good enough source for such measurements. For loudspeaker testing I use the pc soundcard analog out as signal source, as it is good enough for that task, and measurement mic through mic preamp to minidisk analog in and digitally to pc...
Anyway, such a measurement setup is very affordable. I bought the minidisk used so it was additional price cut. Plus such a setup gives a benefit of real good sound from pc for watching movies etc. I also own a SB Live but the MD is still another level...
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