mini spl meter £14.99

Oldboy

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Unfortunately this meter is fast responce only according to the specifications and is therefore not suited to setting up your home cinema as you need a meter with slow responce for an accurate reading...unless of course the specification on the Maplin page is wrong?? For any other use it does seem like a bargain though.
 

sorrellryan

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my bad, unfortunately I am new to all of this i just assumed it was the same one mentioned here

http://www.whathifi.com/blog/simple-effective-and-a-snip-maplin-s-mini-spl-meter

perhaps it is a different model.
 

Oldboy

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sorrellryan said:
my bad, unfortunately I am new to all of this i just assumed it was the same one mentioned here

http://www.whathifi.com/blog/simple-effective-and-a-snip-maplin-s-mini-spl-meter

perhaps it is a different model.

Many apologies i was completely wrong and i'm more than happy to admit it!! Maplins website states the wrong specs for the meter and it is indeed the same one as mentioned in Andrew's article and represents a real bargain, i bought it's bigger brother in the end and have been really happy with the results i got from it and for half the price this mini meter is a no brainer...after all you won't use it very often.
 

scene

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Interesting - I just bought one of these at my local Maplin - and on the back of the packaging it states that the time weighting is "FAST (125mS)" - does this mean they've changed the spec and it's not OK?
 

Oldboy

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That's exactly what the Maplins website lists on the specification....it does look identical to the one in Andrews article but there is only one way to find out, look on the meter for a button that lets you choose the response from fast to slow as it's slow that you need for setting up your equipment as it most closely emulates what the human ear can hear. If it doesn't have slow response as an option then it's not suitable and may mean the spec has been changed for the meter.
 

scene

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Well it appears that it has a "Max/Min" option and Fast response only :doh: So, doesn't look like it will work - I'll return it, unless Andrew or someone else knows different...
 

scene

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scene said:
Well it appears that it has a "Max/Min" option and Fast response only :doh: So, doesn't look like it will work - I'll return it, unless Andrew or someone else knows different...

So - now I'm confused. The SPL meter looks like the one that Andrew referred to in his blog, but it doesn't have a slow response, only a 125ms fast response. Doesn't this mean that this won't work? So was the one in AE's blog the same, or did it have a fast/slow setting which has been removed...?

Mr. Everard?
 

Andrew Everard

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Yes, there are better meters available on the market, but as I said in the blog:

'OK, so the THX professionals and those who aspire to a tool-belt may get a bit sniffy, and say for truly accurate measurement the only meter for the job is going to cost you a lot more than a smidge under £20. But then they also probably drool over the MachineMart catalogue, lusting after petrol-powered leaf-blowers and wondering why no one makes a big hunky diesel-fuelled one.

'For the rest of us, the Maplin Mini is all the SPL meter we're ever likely to need'
 
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Anonymous

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hi , i paid 14.99 last week from maplin ,1st one started to get hot and started smouldering,soon as i put battery in,got it replaced only to find no slow response on new one, only min and max,not that slow response was on 1st faulty one,does this mean it no good for setting up my new 5.1 canton movie 125 mx, onkyo 607 av. sony bd 360.if it is i would appreciate step by step guide,what htz should i put into av 607 i have put 120htz for all speakers +sub.
 

Oldboy

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roberto1234 said:
hi , i paid 14.99 last week from maplin ,1st one started to get hot and started smouldering,soon as i put battery in,got it replaced only to find no slow response on new one, only min and max,not that slow response was on 1st faulty one,does this mean it no good for setting up my new 5.1 canton movie 125 mx, onkyo 607 av. sony bd 360.if it is i would appreciate step by step guide,what htz should i put into av 607 i have put 120htz for all speakers +sub.

As Andrew states above the meter is fine for setting up your equipment, it's just that you may get better results from a meter that has slow response.

As for setting up your system you need to select 'C' weighting on the meter and select the test tone (channel level) feature on your amp. Start with the front two speakers and try to get all your speakers to read 75db on the meter, oh and make sure your volume on your amp is set to 0db before you start the test tone! Do a full sweep of all your speakers and get them all set to 75db by adjusting the level on the test tone menu so that they all read at the correct level, it may be a little more difficult to get the sub to read 75db as the low level given off by the sub can see the level on the meter fluctuate quite alot so just try to average it out so that 75db is the middle measurement.

After calibration don't get too hung up about religously keeping to the meter levels as you may find that some levels sound wrong, usually the centre channel sounds weak for example and gets drowned out by the other speakers and your surrounds can be too strong.

Use the front two speakers as your reference point and don't alter the levels of these then adjust the rest of the speakers until they all sound equal to the front two until you are happy with the results but only do it in small increments and make a note of the levels acheived through using the meter first so you can always go back to the original calibration results.

Hope that helps you, i've just been through this myself and it's covered in another thread that i started on the subject so you may find some more useful info in that so here's the thread link for you:

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/home-cinema/where-should-the-volume-be-set-when-setting-speaker-levels

All the best with your set up and if you need any more info just post here and i will do my best to help!
 
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Anonymous

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hi old boy,thanks for taking the time to reply, did every thing you said,but still did not sound great to me, i think no slow response is the problem,gone back to auto set up audyssey then increased center and sub slightly.happy for time being ,might take maplin meter back and get one with slow response.very happy with canton movie 125 speakers tho. rest of system is onkyo 607 ,sony bd 360 , vergin tivo, stereo is linn mimik cd ,lk 85, linn kolektor, linn keilidh speakers, brennan jb7 for convienience ie lazy times,all my cds on hard drive,records same quality as cd or converts to mp3 to save space on hard drive,i opt for cd quality every time,connects to my linn via headphone jack+stereo jack plugs sounds very nice to me,this really surrprised me.
 

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