Sound Meter Question?

[lucky777]

Hey, just got a quick one for you. How much would it benefit me to get a sound level meter and calibrate my system manually? My new Pioneer receiver has auto calibration with use of a mic and seems to do an alright job.

Is it worth it and if so is there a good moderately price meter anyone can recommend?

 

[ninja12]

Hey, just got a quick one for you. How much would it benefit me to get a sound level meter and calibrate my system manually? My new Pioneer receiver has auto calibration with use of a mic and seems to do an alright job.

Is it worth it and if so is there a good moderately price meter anyone can recommend?

I would say that it definitely will not hurt. It's good to just do a little fine tuning after the auto calibration has run. I normally level set all of my speakers to 75db. I use the sound level meter from Radio Shack. I believe you can get one for about $25 - $30.

 

[Adam]

With my Pioneer 1015, it hit the overall speaker levels pretty much dead on when I used the auto set-up. What I use my SPL meter for anymore is measuring the output levels over frequency (when I run test tones). I did that to help dial in my subwoofer.

Like ninja12 said, it can't hurt. However, if your Pioneer did as good of a job as mine did, and you're not trying to fine tune your system over frequency, you're probably just fine as is.