Using the Radio Shack 33-2050 for room EQ

[JonM]

I am going to try to take a vacation day Wednesday and use FaceTime to set the room EQ on my Quatros. Trying to avoid calling wife in on this if I can help it. 

I bought a new old stock meter from ebay.  

The Radio Shack manual says point the mic at the sound source. That’s not exactly what RV does in the video but maybe that’s because he has to look at the meter, or we don’t get to see all the details. It looks like he holds the mic more vertically. Since I will be using a phone camera and FaceTime, I won’t need to see the meter directly and I have infinite flexibility in mic orientation.
 

My plan is to point the mic at one speaker, calibrate it, then move the mic and point it at the other speaker and repeat. I will be on hands and knees behind the speaker looking at my iPad to see the readings. 
 

I plan to build up a stack of books to get the mic at ear height in my listening position.  Mic will lay flat on top and point at each speaker. 
 

Any other tips and best practices I should know?

[ctsooner]

Good luck. I’m sure you do it properly. Keep us posted. 

[Richard Vandersteen]

1 hour ago, JonM said:

I am going to try to take a vacation day Wednesday and use FaceTime to set the room EQ on my Quatros. Trying to avoid calling wife in on this if I can help it. 

I bought a new old stock meter from ebay.  

The Radio Shack manual says point the mic at the sound source. That’s not exactly what RV does in the video but maybe that’s because he has to look at the meter, or we don’t get to see all the details. It looks like he holds the mic more vertically. Since I will be using a phone camera and FaceTime, I won’t need to see the meter directly and I have infinite flexibility in mic orientation.
 

My plan is to point the mic at one speaker, calibrate it, then move the mic and point it at the other speaker and repeat. I will be on hands and knees behind the speaker looking at my iPad to see the readings. 
 

I plan to build up a stack of books to get the mic at ear height in my listening position.  Mic will lay flat on top and point at each speaker. 
 

Any other tips and best practices I should know?

Low frequencies are not directional, so this is not an issue.  I point the mic at the ceiling because I don't want other noises to corrupt my measurements as you get slightly better signal to noise.  RV

[JonM]

31 minutes ago, Richard Vandersteen said:

Low frequencies are not directional, so this is not an issue.  I point the mic at the ceiling because I don't want other noises to corrupt my measurements as you get slightly better signal to noise.  RV

Roger Wilco. I get to hook up my Oppo 205 to spin the Vandertones CD and I am excited about that too. 

[TomicTime]

Jon - I learned something ! i normally have the meter mic pointed horizontally between speakers at ear height w tripod straddling listening chair. pointed up is a snap to do. Thanks Richard. Fresh 9 v in the meter !
 

i also have FLAC of Vandertones if you need them. My recollection is the website files are mp3.

i am free Wednesday if ya need emergent support from afar. 

Gentle on those potentiometers !,,, especially up against the stops !

Jim

[JonM]

1 hour ago, TomicTime said:

Gentle on those potentiometers !,,, especially up against the stops !

Jim

When I was in college I interned at Cincinnati Milacron. I worked in the metrology group. One day I ham-fisted a potentiometer on a ~$50k HP interferometer. Wrecked it. I was able to remove and replace at lunch before anyone found out. But yikes.  Definitely do not want to do that again.
 

I will treat them like delicate jewels. 

[Oregon]

On 3/19/2022 at 10:06 AM, Richard Vandersteen said:

Low frequencies are not directional, so this is not an issue.  I point the mic at the ceiling because I don't want other noises to corrupt my measurements as you get slightly better signal to noise.  RV

Interesting, good to know.

Thanks for sharing,

Cody