Loudspeaker Lab - Any Users Out There?

[SpiceBuyer]

After being out of the speaker building loop for a number of years, I'm finally getting back into the hobby and dusting off the measurement equipment (LLab). As such, I'm curious if anyone here is using Loudspeaker Lab (version 2 or 3), especially since it looks like the software package is just about dead in terms of support/development/etc. Thanks.

Best Regards,

Kai Stark

[ScottG]

I was a purchaser from the group-buy on the "MAD" board back around 2000. Haven't used it in 4 years though.

You can of course still use it, but frankly there are better options available - and even better than what LspLab has become:

Audio-Capture
WaveCapture

The thing is (and was) - it's not as well integrated into the actual design of speakers, and the new price isn't exactly a bargain anymore.


Sound-easy is pretty much the program to beat, and in some respects has more advanced capabilities than any other program available.

Home Page

LspCad (Standard or Pro) is a similar alternative. Different interface, and generally a bit easier to use than Sound-easy (as a total design solution). Not as many capabilities however.

http://www.ijdata.com/products.html

One of the best features that they both have is the crossover emulator that, (provided you have several channels "out" from your sound card with an amplifier for each channel), allows you to "fine tune" the design "on the fly" before spending any parts on passive components for the crossover.

They both also provide some measure of diffraction modeling so, (like the crossover emulation), you don't have to build box after box to come close to the target design. (..though I'm not certain, I believe Sound-easy is slightly more advanced in this regard).


As alternatives:

Speaker Tester:

woofertester.com

Has only a limited crossover emulator (for just 2 drivers at a time), and no diffraction analysis. On the other hand it is an integrated solution (hardware and software) with real-time analysis, which makes it excellent for fine-tuning a design. (..it's also quite useful if you are not concerned with diffraction, or use another program for box modeling.)

LEAP 5 & LMS

LinearX Systems Inc - Products

..have both software and hardware, have what is likely the most advanced modeling available, but it doesn't have any cross-over emulation nor does it have the sort of measurement/plotting capability that other packages have.



If you are just interested in a quality measurement package then consider ARTA:

ARTA Home

..for this task it really doesn't get much better.

[SpiceBuyer]

Scott,

Thanks for the detailed response - it's much appreciated. I do agree with your summary on the weaknesses of LLab. That's pretty much the conclusion I came to after reading the manual and experimenting with it a bit, but to be honest, I've never actually used LLab for designing boxes or crossovers. I purchased it back in 2001 as strictly a measurement and data acquisition tool to supplement LspCAD Pro, which I've always used for box and x-over modeling.

I probably should have been more specific in terms of my usage of LLab back in my original post. Thanks Scott and I'll check out ARTA as a measurement package.