Speaker measurement, FRD and ZMA

[ux226]

Hello.

I have this reasonably decent measurement setup:

ESI Juli@ sound card (24bit/192KHz full duplex)
Behringer ECM8000 Mic
Behringer UB802 Mixer/Preamp
TrueRTA 1/24th octave software
audioTester software

and that all works pretty good.

What I need to do at this moment is to measure some speaker units in their actual enclosures and produce FRD and ZMA files that I will then use to simulate x-overs. I need the files to contain both amplitude(dB or ohms) and phase.

How do I get around that? I'm am all open for yet another piece of software if need be. I just hope it won't cost me too much

[FullThrottleRic]

Speaker Workshop will let you create FRD and ZMA files from measurements, it will also do the simulations for you and best of all it's free

http://www.audua.com/

[ux226]

Thanks a lot.
I just downloaded it and installed it on my laptop... Exploring the software should keep me occupied in the train on my way home from work today ;-)

[Calvin]

Hi,

depending on the software You can ´fudge and cheat´ a bit.
The .frd and .zma files are just a text files with the first column containing the amplitude values and the second column containing the phase values. A lot of software outputs its data the same or a similar way.
Just open the data files with the editor and have a look! If there is a headline..just delete it. Save the files then as standard text-file with the proper ending.

Example:
DLSA generates .amp and .imp files that look like this:

for a file "drivername.imp"

"Freq[Hz] Imp[Ohm] Phas[Deg]"
12.5 3.1 5.3
25.0 3.1 5.2
37.5 3.1 5.7
and so on

the "drivername.zma" file would look like this:

12.5 3.1 5.3
25.0 3.1 5.2
37.5 3.1 5.7
and so on

So apart from the missing headline and the different file ending they are the same!

jauu
Calvin

[hongrn]

Hello ux226,

Instead of Audio Tester and TrueRTA, use Arta. Arta measures frequency response, phase, impedance, and will allow you to export to zma and frd. Good luck.

Hong

[Calvin]

Hi,

uuups a correction:

The format is three columns not just two

First: Frequency
Second: Amplitude value
Third: Phase value

jauu
Calvin

[ux226]

I spent the time in the train home from work reading the entire Help file of Audua Speaker Workshop. It seems to be able to do all I need.

I have downloaded and looked at the program several times before, but every time I found it to be so non-intuitive to use that I dumped it again. After reading the Help file from start to finish and navigating the interface a bit I believe I'll get the hang of it. It seems like a very powerful package once you get familiar with it.

I think Speaker Workshop will be one of my primary development tools from now on. TrueRTA is however so good at measurements of complete systems from the listening spot that I will never regret that purchase.

I had a brief look at Arta just now, and I think I'll see how far Speaker Workshop gets me before spending time (and eventually money) on that. Thanks a lot for the pointer though - that's one program I had never seen before.

Now, please have me excused - I have a bunch of experiements to do!

[JMB]

If you are interested in a really good tutorial, go to Claudio Negro's home page at www.ClaudioNegro.com. If you then want to delve further, I have put together a fairly comprehensive manual that you could download there. In addition to SW information, it has a slew of spreadsheets and general audio information that may be of interest to you. It is a large file, however.

Good Luck,

Jay

[ux226]

Wow. I'm impressed!

I just read the TOC and first 4-5 pages of your manual Jay, and I look forward to reading the rest of it. Great work!

For once I'm actually happy that I travel 1h30m each way for work by train... Gives me the time to read stuff like this.

Thanks

[JMB]

Thanks. I hope that you have time to evaluate the spreadsheets and helper programs, as well. I believe that they are quite helpful and educational. I have put together a few others since the second edition. I am currently in the process of compiling all of the notes I have taken and several new spreadsheets into this Manual. I don't know that I will post it as the size is getting to be quite large, however, I will be watching for questions on the boards and will share what I have gathered or put together as appropriate. I am not an expert but a very obsessive learner.

Jay