Tech Square

RE: Save your money (if it's not too late).

64.13.14.96

In Reply to: RE: Save your money (if it's not too late). posted by beermanpete@socal.rr.com on November 21, 2007 at 19:45:36

Well, your point about the power amp is a good one, but it's just takes a pot, nothing fancy.

The upper end isn't much of an issue, most sound cards will sample to at least 96KHz so you can see out to ~40KHz which is well beyond what your ears will respond to on a continuous basis.

As far as misleading, nothing on the face of the earth is more misleading than a distortion analyzer. The rub is that it gives you a pat answer to two decimal places which on it's own hook means absolutely nothing if you are doing design or repair. It is of some value for production. You end up always having to have a scope on the output so you can get a clue if it's measuring hum, residual noise, 2nd, 3rd, what?

The sound card/FFT scheme is outstanding by comparison, one glance and you see what's going on. And the cost/benefit is beyond belief. About 20 years ago I was doing a project where I needed to see the signal more clearly than I could with a distortion analyzer. So I bought an HP dynamic signal analyzer. It was a 50KHz, ~14 bit FFT machine. $12,000 used. The price of a good new car. Now you get better performance for essentially nothing. Some things in life really are better than the "good old days".

Rick

Follow Ups:

RE: Save your money (if it's not too late). - rdf 16:38:58 11/30/07 (0)

Post a Followup:

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?

Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
	Remember my Moniker & Password (What's this?) Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:

Message:	(Posts are subject to Content Rules)

Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:	Automagically notify you when someone responds.

To view your new posting or follow-up, click on the RELOAD or REFRESH button on your browser.