VU meter - don't know how I lived without it!

David Gatti said:

This is a nice kit from Qkits http://store.qkits.com/ that I put together & incorporated with my active filter.
Really interesting to see just how much power I'm using - usually about 1 watt!

More write up here :
http://www.gattiweb.com/VUmeter.html

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Seeing levels hop around is indeed fun. For now all I've got are the few on my mixer or the signal/clip lights on the amps.

IIRC PE has a version as well.

i have the same experience, the wattage we use during normal listening is miniscule, i measured mine directly on lowthers many times, usually few hundreds of milliwatts

however, once you start cranking it up (this happens from time to time during parties or so), than you will see that 10 or even 100 watts comes quickly, its not a problem to clip and amp, once you turn the volume up

on the other hand, if you never have the need to play it too loud, than few watts amplifier should do, offcourse it depends on efficiency of the speakers, the higher the efficiency, the better

i have built many led indicators, if you are interested in schematics for led indicator, which does not require power, and is just connected to the speaker, i can scan it and post it

please do!

here it is
you can make it with any number of leds

i made a couple of them with 7 leds in a row
it indicates from 3 to 50 watts
a while ago i made even 12 leds indicator
nice things about these are no power, just stick on top of the speaker

thanks a lot!
will be using them as soon as possible.

personally I have a irrational fondness for analog meters and a general distaste for blinking LEDs.

True Dat!

Anyone got a schematic for an analog version that also hooks directly up?


Bouncing needles are way more fun than blinking lights.

actually i do, i have an hitachi amp with analog meters

i have schematics, i will scan it

problem with analog meters is that they are so patheticaly slow that its boring to look at them

the good ones are expensive or unavailable

on the contrary, fluorescent meters are so beautifull, i can't stop stearing at them

i have a couple of top of the line onkyo cassette decks (by nakamichi) with such a hypnotic looking green fluorescent display

and a couple of luxman decks, all blue fluorescent meters, magnificent

remember those three colour technics fluorescent meters?

analog does not even come close!

Guess yu'all missed these pretty analogue meters.......

No doubt, I just like the analogs better.

Although these LED ones look nice and easy, may have to try some on the speakers...

Any idea on modify these for blue LED or is it not necessary?

JoshK said:

personally I have a irrational fondness for analog meters and a general distaste for blinking LEDs.

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Absolutely

A nice pair of analog meters with a hazy incandescent backlight would suit me nicely. Where to the nice pair in question and how to add them to my amp is a different matter. Any thoughts?

--Seek

adason said:

fluorescent meters are so beautiful, i can't stop stearing at them

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Are you thinking of VFDs? I had a beautiful Sony mini system about 10 years ago, finished in matte granite-grey and it had beautiful VFD displays which happily glowed behind the smoked tint plastic.

If anyone has an idea where to source VFD meters, that would be nice

--Seek

yes, yes, the VFD's

pioneer used blue ones in cassette decks and amplifiers, technics used beautifull three colour ones in some decks, my onkyo ta-2700 has nice green one...they are amazing
i have one technics receiver with 16 channel spectrum analyzer done by VFD, fun to watch

i guess the best source for VFD's would be old cassette decks
you can get them cheap on ebay

here is rectification circuit for analog meters in my hitchi amp
the values for resisrots are R951 is 2k7, R952 is 150 and R953 is 1k2; capacitor is 22 uF (microF)

here is pair of nice analog meters from and old technics

Where can I find a pair of analog VU meters, prefferably about 1" dia and blue backlit?