Where to buy Radio Shack Sound Pressure Level meter

Hi, anyone know where can get Radio Shack or equivalent Sound Pressure Level meter (digital) ? How much does it cost for budgetary?

Thanks in advance.

You can try ebay. I bought my analogue Radio Shack SPL meter brand new via ebay 3 years ago for less than RM100. If you want to buy it locally, the last time my friend informed some electronic stores along Pasar Road do have them but the price is like 6 to 7 times higher compared to the prices you can get online.

Thanks, will definitely search in ebay. I have not tried ebay online purchasing, is it secured? I checked online the digital Radio Shack SPL is around US 60.

Do you think Ace hardware selling SPL or another hardware shop (forgot its name) near Ground Floor New Wing of One Utama?

Online purchasing is secure if paying with Paypal since there is protection. In the event of lost shipments or non-receipt packages, Paypal will refund the money. Buying from verified sellers with multiple feedbacks is another advantage but not from sellers with 0 feedback. The only issue we need to worry about with shipping stuff from overseas is customs tax. This is the reason why it is not viable to ship big items particularly electronics like amplifiers or speakers as the chances of these items being subjected to tax is high(although I once shipped a huge subwoofer from Singapore using Fedex but escaped tax). Usually small items won't be subjected to tax but in order to minimise the risk, we need to ask sellers to declare a lower value of the item on the package and mark it as "Gift". Some sellers particularly retail stores will not do this but for cheap items it would not matter too much.

I don't know if any hardware electronic store sells the SPL meter but you can always survey and compare the price you can get online. If you can get one in Ebay at a price of 2X cheaper or more, maybe you would want to try online-purchasing for the first time. If you want peace of mind, buy locally from stores even if the price is slightly expensive.

Thanks for the tips, i have experience purchase online such as amazon, HMV japan etc. for books, CDs, but never using Paypal as well as ebay, will try to google Paypal and ebay for more information.

Have a great weekend !

If you have purchased items from Amazon and HMV online then I suppose you have experience in online transactions. Basically purchasing from Ebay is nothing different from purchasing from Amazon or HMV. In fact, it's even safer if you have your credit card registered under Paypal and make payments using the service. Purchasing items online with Paypal service is free and convenient. You can go to www.paypal.com for more information.

I don't know about the policy of Amazon or HMV if the items get lost during shipping, whether they would be able to refund the money or replace the lost item. If paying with Paypal, Paypal will act as the 3rd party(between buyer and seller) and reimburse the exact value of the item in the event of a non-receipt item or lost shipment.

Also, making payments through Paypal is much safer than paying with credit card with online transactions. With credit card transactions, sellers have control on the debit amount of the buyer's credit card(they can withdraw a higher amount that what was agreed) whereas the buyer keys in the exact amount of money that is to be transferred to the seller's account with Paypal. In other words, fraud is minimised with transactions made through Paypal.

Ryder,

Thanks a lot for the explanation, i have read thru Paypal website and terms and condition, yeah they are 3rd party coordinator between buyer and seller which is secured. I have just registered with Paypal, at the moment, there is not much selection of SPL on ebay, would you recommend analog or digital SPL meter?

Cheers

On the few selection of SPL meters on ebay, it depends on timing. Sometimes there are many listings and at certain times there are very few listings. If you are not in a hurry you can monitor and wait for the right one to pop up. At the same time you would be able to compare on the prices between different sellers and determine which one offers the cheapest value for the same item.

Regarding digital vs analogue SPL meters, the general consensus is digital meters are more accurate as they give a fixed reading and hence is a better option. You would never get a fixed reading on an analogue meter since the needle will always fluctuate although one can roughly make out the value. The good thing about analogue meters is the user can have a "feel" on the dB levels by looking at the fluctuation range of the needle. Other than that the accuracy of the digital meter will be an advantage especially in taking down measurements and plotting the graph of the room's response.

Basically I got the Radio Shack SPL meter just to measure on how loud I am listening to the music. I didn't do any room measurements(still haven't figured out how to do that).

I would definitely patiently watch over ebay for the opportunity.

Though speaker placement can be done by calculation and listening, to get more accurate and precise, SPL meter can do the job.

To share, i attach an excerpt response from Millenium, one of the forumers of Stereophile.

i use of form of this with a radio shack digital
sound meter. the article i read and i do not know or remember where i
read it but it goes something like this. set the radio shack meter at c
weighted and response at fast.playing whitenoise turn your volume up
until the meter reads 80db from where you want to sit and listen. the
80 db is what the article mentioned and i believe is to make sure there
is enough volume to detect the spl changes easier. what you are trying
to do is get the spl. the same for each speaker. the farther you move
the meter to each side of the room without any changes is what you are
looking for. what you will find is that one speaker will be better than
the other because of the room characteristics not being equal. once you
patiently get the spl even put in some pinknoise and measure the spl
again. what you are looking for again is the same spl from speaker to
speaker. my speakers moving the meter has only a 1 db change playing
pinknoise. now play some music. what you should get is a wall of equal
sound pressure that will when listening to music have no music coming
from the speakers. when adjusting the speakers dont be worried that
they are not equal from the wall behind the speakers or the side wall.
also in final adjusting you will most likely find that one speaker is
not toed in the same as the other. no problem as you are trying to
achieve equal spl levels. when achieved the sound should really show
you how good 2 channel can sound. i hope this helps in setting up your
speakers. if it does please post with your results.

Hi ryder,

Just got my Radioshack (digital) SPL today. Tested with pink noise, set at 80 dB, yes, so glad to find out that my existing listening position has 0 dB deviation.

Also, i have done dB measurement using Stereophile Test CD Vol 3 (Track 17 - 19) for test tone at variable frequencies. (i.e. 20Hz, 25, 31.5, 40, 50, 63, 80, 100, 125, 160, 200, 250, 315, 400, 500, 630, 800, 1k, 1.25k, 1.6k, 2k, 2.5k, 3.15k, 4k, 5k, 6.3k, 8k, 10k, 12.5k, 16k, 20k).

Except frequency below 50Hz and at 20kHz could not be measure due to my speaker limitation (only ambient noise was measured) , other frequencies are within the range of 54dB - 72Hz, it's quite stable within the mid range frequency (200 Hz - 1000Hz - 68dB to 70dB). I need to figure how to plot this frequency response vs. dB (probably need a log graph), will try google.

Just to share ...

Cheers,

Hi Auronthas,

Did you buy the digital SPL meter via Ebay or locally from the shops? Good to hear you already start using it. I also got a test CD with test tones set at various intervals but haven't really taken the effort to explore further. Will do it sometime when I am free.

Hi Ryder,

Yup, i bought it over eBay, actually is from an electronic shop from UK, so it's first hand and cost me around RM 170+.

Great to know you have the test CD, in fact i also learn how to measure the sound decibel of test tones from website.

Now with the measurement data, I will use MS excel to plot the graph (dB vs. Frequency Response) over this coming weekend.

Cheers,

why is all this fuss about spl.just enjoy the music with whatever steup you have after all music is very subjective.

Hi alcmy,

I noticed this is your first post and welcome to hifi4sale forum.

I do enjoy music with my current setup even without SPL meter . I acquired SPL meter recently, it does give very much accurate check besides my own ear on my listening position with respect to my speaker placement as well as room acoustic (i just added bass trap at corners, diffusors at wall behind speakers, and DIY absorption panels at first reflection point of side walls).

Well, i am quite pleased with the current setup, the music produced is lively yet musical.

Cheers,

Auronthas

alcmy wrote:why is all this fuss about spl.just enjoy the music with whatever steup you have after all music is very subjective.

Alcmy,
Welcome to Hi-Fi 4 Sale, where we have a diverse community of audiophiles looking to trade equipment as well as share some thoughts.

Mutual respect is one of the most important keys to communicatiing online, especially since body language is not visible (partially aided by emoticons).

You may have your views on the importance of SPL and it's OK. However, that doesn't mean that others cannot 'fuss over' them. We all have different definitions of enjoyment in this hobby. If you disagree on this view or wish to state a different one, by all means express it in a more constructive way.

There's a forum of MartinLogan owners out there that's just that: a great forum, with a positive sphere of discussion among members. It takes all of us to make this happen.
http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=13

Thanks,

Alcmy,

Why all the fuss about barging in here and interrupt the discussion if you don't know what SPL meter is all about?

I concur with Hi-Fi 4 Sale (Admin) that most of the US/UK forum are more positive driven as i stated in other post before (such as slimdevices, audiogon, stereophile, etc.) , forum members are warm and helpful.

If they have different opinion, they will state their point of view so others forum members can judge and analyze themselves.

I hope to see a more mature and positive discussion in this forum.

Cheers,

Auronthas

From my earlier post, i just plotted the Sound Measurement (dB) vs Frequency Response (Hz) on Sonus Faber Concertino Domus (50Hz - 20kHz) as following graph. Please note that the maximum dB i listened/measured was set to 80dB as compared to the second graph which was around 90dB.




Compare to the following graph received from Dr. Paolo Tezzon from Sonus Faber Research and Development.





Auronthas

Nice. Looks like your room and speaker placement are quite good as the curve is rather linear across the spectrum.

When you played the test tones, did you get any vibration sound from the doors or the ceiling? When I tested last time, there are some vibration sound from the doors, ceiling and windows at certain frequencies. I've tried to rectify these spots but since the doors need to be replaced and it's impossible to do anything to the ceiling(I suspect some metal parts above the plaster ceiling are causing the sound) I have not successfully addressed these problem areas.

I didn't pay very much attention on vibration sound from doors, will check it next testing session. I do not see problem with ceiling as i have a rather high ceiling /double volume.

Perhaps you need to add few pieces of diffusors on the ceiling.