# Really need a meter?



## fgelinas (Jul 30, 2008)

Do I really need an SPL meter? I started this costly hobby of home theater recently. I am also a bit into DIY speakers. I do a lot of music and already own a couple of mics and preamp for my home studio. I never owned an SPL meter and never EQ'd a room with something else than my ears, without big success, I must confess... 

I downloaded REW and I really liked it. I thought that a good measurement mic (let's say the Behringer to keep the cost low) was the only thing I needed to make some measurements. Why would I need an SPL meter with a ****** mic inside? The help file says that you need one to have a reference point. I understand that, but personnally, I don't really care if it reads 90 dB instead of 80 dB, as long as the curve is accurate to allow me to EQ correctly. I thought that with the Behringer mic, I'd have enough to play with my EQ... And I don't plan getting a digital EQ to upload the EQ curve anyway. I'll use my 31 band graphic EQs for now.

What will I be missing without a meter?


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

First of all ... Welcome :wave:



fgelinas said:


> Do I really need an SPL meter? I started this costly hobby of home theater recently. I am also a bit into DIY speakers. I do a lot of music and already own a couple of mics and preamp for my home studio. I never owned an SPL meter and never EQ'd a room with something else than my ears, without big success, I must confess...


I'm sure that for REW you don't need the SPL if you have the Mic and Preamp ... I used the SPL because I didn't have what you have :yes:

SPL can help you to calibrate the speakers if they're used on a 5.1 or 7.1 configuration ... so they'll have the same SPL output :bigsmile:


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> but personnally, I don't really care if it reads 90 dB instead of 80 dB, as long as the curve is accurate to allow me to EQ correctly


Yeah, the SPL meter is used when you're going through the Check Levels setup of REW to match the _actual_ SPL reading of a hand held SPL meter to the internal SPL meter in REW that has no idea what the SPL reading is. You can certainly fool REW and once you have the level you _estimate_ is 75dBSPL at the listening position (and the input level to the soundcard set), run the Calibrate SPL and simply set the level to 75dB. As you say, if it's 78dB actually, it isn't that important.

Personally, as salvasol says, I feel a cheap RS SPL meter pretty handy to set up equal levels for HT speakers with internal test tones from a receiver. I don't know how you would do it other wise...

brucek


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## fgelinas (Jul 30, 2008)

brucek said:


> Personally, as salvasol says, I feel a cheap RS SPL meter pretty handy to set up equal levels for HT speakers with internal test tones from a receiver. I don't know how you would do it other wise...
> 
> brucek


Handy, yes. But can't I just use the software for this too? I mean, if I set all the SPL reading for each speaker at the same level in the software (even if it's not the absolute level), they would be at equal level... no?


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> they would be at equal level... no?


Yep, you could use REW's SPL meter and set a _relative_ level for your channels using the receivers internal test tones.

brucek


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## TheGovernment (Aug 11, 2008)

wouldn't it be best to spend the $50 and have the meter also, just if even for reference?


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## billy p (Dec 19, 2007)

I've finally bought a SPL meter when I purchased my pb10:yay:. After some tinkering around would it be dumb not to set the delay or distance for my speakers via the receiver if the SPL meter already sets the sound level anyway?:innocent:

Thanks, Bill


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> After some tinkering around would it be dumb not to set the delay or distance for my speakers via the receiver if the SPL meter already sets the sound level anyway?


The amplitude of the signal set with the SPL meter doesn't compensate for the arrival time of the signal. For this, you need to set the distance in your receiver.

brucek


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## billy p (Dec 19, 2007)

brucek said:


> The amplitude of the signal set with the SPL meter doesn't compensate for the arrival time of the signal. For this, you need to set the distance in your receiver.
> 
> brucek


Thank you very much! This was the first time I've used a SPL metre and I wasn't sure:nerd:.


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## marcosreg (Aug 17, 2008)

50 bucks is cheap for the improvement.
Marcos


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