Adding external vu meters
- Thread starter newlash09
- Start date
I have always had this fetish for glowing vu meters. And came across some analogue meters for sale. And plan on mounting them externally in a aluminium case, that will hold the power supplies for hifi. So my doubt is wether the tap the output from the speaker binding posts of the amp or from pre-amp outs. And will doing this tarnish the sound quality in anyway. Thanks for your advise.
Pre-amp or power amp? Surely that would depend on the VU meters? What's the max power / voltage the VU meters will display?
If you don't know, safest is to try them at the pre-amp stage. If they flick up nicely keep them on the pre-amp. If they hardly twitch move them to the power amp.
As for affecting the sound quality, you try them and tell us. I would expect no or very minimal change. But this is hi-fi and you never know for sure till you try it.
If you don't know, safest is to try them at the pre-amp stage. If they flick up nicely keep them on the pre-amp. If they hardly twitch move them to the power amp.
As for affecting the sound quality, you try them and tell us. I would expect no or very minimal change. But this is hi-fi and you never know for sure till you try it.
Hmmm.... why not install two 5" displays behind smoked dark glass (430mm wide case) and run a VU meter app on signal level? VU meters tapping in the power amp don't really move a heck of a lot, you need a x10 booster to get them twitching at normal listening levels. On the other hand signal level meters will go wild as the music gets more dynamic.
nopiano
Well-known member
Vlad will post a picture of one of those Pioneer display devices with meters and an oscilloscope, while I mention that the Squeezebox Touch has a vu meter mode.
chebby
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Gray
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I've got a couple of these BBC type 34a meters, complete with (Alice Soundtech PPM301) driver circuits for true PPM movement.
http://www.darkwooddesigns.co.uk/pc2/meters.html#Analogue
http://www.darkwooddesigns.co.uk/pc2/meters.html#Analogue
tino
Well-known member
chebby
Well-known member
and much prefer the VU meter to the spectrum display. It looks very convincing (even real) but it's kind of useless and the novelty does wear off pretty quickly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL0gCLB6m3w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL0gCLB6m3w
I would agree that the novelty will wear off. But would love to see something groove to the music. Will use the pre amp out to a pair of 5" displays behind smoked glass as suggested. But that would be pushing my DIY skills a bit too far. But worth an attempt for sure. Thanks.
Gray
Well-known member
....this does, in sound to light mode.
Before my Brother put it on his ceiling, I had a play with this:
http://cpc.farnell.com/pulse/ledbar-320/led-bar-320-led-rgb/dp/DP32638?rpsku=rel3
P31877&isexcsku=false
Very bright, colourful, impressive but ultimately pointless and stupid - therefore great fun for big, stupid kids!
Before my Brother put it on his ceiling, I had a play with this:
http://cpc.farnell.com/pulse/ledbar-320/led-bar-320-led-rgb/dp/DP32638?rpsku=rel3
P31877&isexcsku=falseVery bright, colourful, impressive but ultimately pointless and stupid - therefore great fun for big, stupid kids!
newlash09 said:
Nah. I know you want the old style meters. Much cooler. Module boards for analogue VU meters sell as DIY kits on ebay.
Blacksabbath25
Well-known member
Blacksabbath25 said:Vladimir said:
No the novelty never wears off just buy a Yamaha A-S2100 or a A-S3000 *biggrin*
daveh75
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Blacksabbath25
Well-known member
I found the UVs on my Yamaha very handy with the home cinema as when watching a film the swings in sound are so big so it's a good indicationVladimir said:
if your got the volume to high and how much power the A-S2100 is giving power wise .
as you can set the UVs to do peak and db so it's a good little tool for this but do not bother using the UVs when listening to music. .
Gray
Well-known member
Still got it of course (never chucked anything away) The novelty here was actually the LED metering, above the VU's, which was quite a new thing then - much faster response to peaks than the VU's (Even if it was just a combination of both channels)
chebby
Well-known member
Vladimir said:The novelty never wears off when you have the real deal.
It's the flickering embers in the corner of the cave, 1970s style.
The amp, the tuner and the cassette deck all had them. Rack systems lit up like a little slice of Manhattan along with all those LEDs as well...
nopiano
Well-known member
That light bar was more than I bargained for. My wife would think I've gone nuts. But most of the kit posted here looks gorgeous to me. I enjoy music most with all lights off. And thought it would be nice to see some meters swing to the music to keep me company . That diy kit is the way to go probably
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