Audio analyser

[Mattwong]

I want to buy a new audio analyser for my new business and diy use, any good choice?

[tg3]

PRAXIS from Liberty Instruments.

[Mattwong]

It's a good choice but it seem not easy to use!
Any other choice? like hp8903b, easy to use!!

[jackinnj]

i've had several distortion analyzers -- now use a Krohn-Hite which I got on Ebay -- it needed adjustment which was a day's worth of work, but it outperforms my HP339. The Krohn-Hite is auto-ranging, auto-frequency, tests down to 0.002%.

There was an article in "Test and Measurements" a few months ago praising the merits of the better quality sound cards in T&M applications -- this might surprise some people but I note that the series of articles in Electronics World by Cyril Bateman on "Capacitor Distortion" also used a sound card and claimed acuracy an order of magnitude (120dB) better than the HP or Krohn-Hite. Of course, the problem with a sound card is that you tie up your PC...

[Bernhard]

I think distortion analyzers are not good because they do not tell anything about orders and magnitude of orders.

Spectrum analyzer should be better.

But I'm not sure.

[kilowattski]

Rohde & Schwarz UPL06. Also has a spectrum analyzer built in.

[jackinnj]

Originally posted by Bernhard
I think distortion analyzers are not good because they do not tell anything about orders and magnitude of orders.

Spectrum analyzer should be better.

But I'm not sure.

if you want an audio specturm analyzer which is downright cheap and first class consider the HP3581 Wave Analyzer (there is also a comparable vintage Genrad model) you can sweep frequency and plot the results with you computer, it has its own built in tracking generator -- they usuallly go for $50 to $100 on EBay.

A couple years ago I broke my ankle and was forced into domesticity, thus I scanned the HP3581 manual and put it up on this website:
http://www.tech-diy.com/hp3581.htm

[Bernhard]

How large are distortions of good power amps in -dB ? K2, K3 ???

[cocolino]

if you want an audio specturm analyzer which is downright cheap and first class consider the HP3581 Wave Analyzer (there is also a comparable vintage Genrad model) you can sweep frequency and plot the results with you computer, it has its own built in tracking generator -- they usuallly go for $50 to $100 on EBay.

I just want to add that there are two versions of the HP3581, the HP3581A and the HP3581C, type A has ground-referenced input whereas type C has also balanced-input option (for You X-Pass gear builders).

Thanks to the US tax payers (US army surplus in Germany) I bought my type "A" for DM 350.- (new about DM 15000.- in the 90`s) including manual in new condition (I really doubt that it ever has been used).