But then won't you end up with a bulkier package than the storebought
sound level meter?
And then won't it cost a fair percentage of the storebought sound level
meter to get the parts for building it, especially for someone who doesn't
have much of a background in electronics?
The problem with people who "know something can't be difficult" is
that they often don't know what's involved, so they think it should
be really easy to turn a DMM into a sound level meter.
Ahh, my comments were all with tongue firmly planted in cheek! <g>
I assumed he didn't know how difficult it was, and was trying
to show that it was not at all simple.
To the OP: If your goal is to own a nice portable SPL meter,
the RS unit is a good deal, whether you get the digital model
or the older analog one (if it's still offered).
If you just need SPL measurements, my Daqarta package
allows you to calibrate your sound card to do that. However,
as you might imagine, you have to have a calibrated mic.
Just getting one of these will cost more than the RS meter.
So far, I've never found any good way to calibrate a mic
other than by comparing to a known reference mic,
or using a reference sound source. (There are some
theoretical-but-impractical methods that work with
certain kinds of mics, that don't require a reference.)
Best regards,
Bob Masta
D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com
Scope, Spectrum, Spectrogram, Signal Generator
Science with your sound card!
