Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

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Ray P
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#1 Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by Ray P »

With the various discussion topics around crossovers, bandwidth limiting amps etc. I suspect it will be useful to be able to do some measurements of the room/system/components - but where to begin, hence this topic.

I assume the starting point is a microphone and some specialised software? If so, which/what would be a good starting point. Requirements are that it needs to be relatively 'simple' to use and 'affordable'.

The only stuff I have remotely related is the Audyssey microphone that came with my home theatre amp.

I did stumble across the Dayton OmniMic stuff; the software appears to be a free download and seems OK to use on the basis of a quick look but I'm not sure if it's tied to their Mics - I don't want to pay nearly £300 for one.

Thanks in anticipation.
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Ray P
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#2 Re: Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by Ray P »

I spotted this on ebay;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sonarworks-X ... SwVWBfrWoj

looks more like a number I would be happy to pay?
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ed
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#3 Re: Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by ed »

looks fine Ray...not familiar with the make but the ad says all the right things for what you need.

Please be aware(If you're not already) that it's a condenser and therefor needs a preamp with phantom power...I feel pretty sure it won't plug into a normal consumer pc sound card...
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vinylnvalves
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#4 Re: Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by vinylnvalves »

This is what I have been using...https://www.gear4music.com/Recording-an ... gI9AvD_BwE

I had mine calibrated, it was a couple of dB different at the extremes of the measurement band, therefore would be fine for 90% of measurements uncalibrated. I would imagine Chris could calibrate it for you.
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#5 Re: Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by Ray P »

ed wrote: Fri Jan 01, 2021 10:42 am Please be aware(If you're not already) that it's a condenser and therefor needs a preamp with phantom power...I feel pretty sure it won't plug into a normal consumer pc sound card...
Cheers Ed. Nope, I wasn't aware - I'm starting from a very low point! Any pointers on the sort of pre-amp that would be required?
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#6 Re: Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by simon »

This thread might be of interest Ray?

http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/phpBB3/view ... f=9&t=7555

I got the Behringer DAC and mic, about £80 at the time IIRC, and use REW, a free download. Works for me, though I've nothing to compare it with.
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#7 Re: Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by Ray P »

vinylnvalves wrote: Fri Jan 01, 2021 11:28 am This is what I have been using...https://www.gear4music.com/Recording-an ... gI9AvD_BwE

I had mine calibrated, it was a couple of dB different at the extremes of the measurement band, therefore would be fine for 90% of measurements uncalibrated. I would imagine Chris could calibrate it for you.
Cheers. This one looks to be an even better price and probably OK for my purpose?

https://www.gear4music.com/Recording-an ... phone/3DW7

and this to plug it into a laptop?

https://www.gear4music.com/Recording-an ... reamp/1PNG
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#8 Re: Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by vinylnvalves »

I use one of these, has the 48v phantom power supply required to power the mic. You do a loop calibration to take out any error that the preamp may introduce.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M-Audio-Mobi ... %7Ciid%3A1
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#9 Re: Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by vinylnvalves »

My go to measurements software is Holmimpulse. I do use REW too, when I want to export data. Along with ATRA I get the same results from all three different pieces of software.. no better result from any of them.

That gear for music preamp looks fine, just need to be mindful that it will be hanging off a mic boom, looks a little bulky to me. I have a 6 metre xlr cable so I sit out of the way when measuring, you could obviously get a longer usb cable too.
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#10 Re: Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by Nick »

just need to be mindful that it will be hanging off a mic boom
I can't see any reason why it would not be just as good with a XLR between it and the mic just like any other preamp.
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#11 Re: Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by Ray P »

This looks as though it'll do the biz...

https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0AVV

£30 on Amazon.
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#12 Re: Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by Ray P »

Nick wrote: Fri Jan 01, 2021 12:02 pm
just need to be mindful that it will be hanging off a mic boom
I can't see any reason why it would not be just as good with a XLR between it and the mic just like any other preamp.
It includes a means of securing it to a Mic stand - reusable cable ties I think
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#13 Re: Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by vinylnvalves »

The other thing I have just remembered, is feeding your system with a test signal. I feed a signal from M Audio. So all my inputs and outputs are in the M Audio preamp. You would have to feed a signal from your pc sound card via the headphones output. I wasted a lot of time trying to used the pc soundcards, but my bad experience maybe down to my ineptitude.
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#14 Re: Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by Max N »

Hi Ray
You could spend slightly more on a more capable audio interface (e.g. Focusrite 2i2 or many others). This is overkill for speaker measurement, but will work fine for that (it has mic preamps, supplies phantom power etc). But it will also give you a really good device for measuring amps etc. in the future, especially if you pair it with software like audiotester.
This has made my signal generator and scope almost redundant.
Look for something that goes up to 192 kHz, which most of them do nowadays. They are also designed for low latency.
Just remember not to connect it directly to anything running at high voltage!
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#15 Re: Speaker Measurement - Where to Begin

Post by Nick »

Ray P wrote: Fri Jan 01, 2021 12:11 pm
Nick wrote: Fri Jan 01, 2021 12:02 pm
just need to be mindful that it will be hanging off a mic boom
I can't see any reason why it would not be just as good with a XLR between it and the mic just like any other preamp.
It includes a means of securing it to a Mic stand - reusable cable ties I think
Yep, but you will still need a XLR cable. Easier to use a longer XLR and a shorter USB IMHO. But my point was it doesn't need to be plugged directly into the mic which I though that VnV was suggesting.
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