SPL-Labs LCD Bass Meter

[thehawk93 2]

I'm here to watch this may or may not get me to buy...

[Don Ganso 13]

Excellent review so far; very thorough.

Watching...

[onebadmonte 235]

Okay, lets take a look at the software. It's called SPL Lab Viewer, and well, it does just that. It allows you to see what the LCD bass meter is reading on your computer monitor. In addition to seeing the numeric measurement you also get to see a graphical representation of the measurement in the form of a continuously adjusting bar graph.

Lets get started by loading up the software. Pop the CD into your disk drive and open to see the contents of the disk. It should look like this.

Click on the SPL Lab Viewer folder and drag it to a convenient location on you computer. I put it on my desktop. That's it, software loaded.

In addition to loading the software you'll need to plug in the LCD Bass meter, via the USB cable, into you PC. Once you do a driver will automatically will down load to you PC for the LCD Bass Meter to work with your PC.

Now we can take a look at SPL Viewer. Open the SPL Lab Viewer folder and double click the SPL-viewer application. You should get this.

Please note the Utilities button and the Play/Stop button.

Lets get started to measure.

Power up the LCD Bass Meter with either a pair of AA batteries or the supplied cigarette lighter power cable. Connect the pressure sensor to the Meter with the supplied mini jack cable. Position the sensor. Now let's connect the meter to the PC. The USB Tx LED on your meter should blink a few times, it is establishing communication with your PC. With SPL Veiwer open, click on the utilities button. The utilities menu will open and a device will be available to select. It will look something like this.

Click apply. Then press the play/stop button. You are officially measuring.

Pop in the SPL Labs CD in to your player and select the appropriate tracks to take some measurements.

Congratulations.

Stay tuned for more. Thanks for looking

[shizzzon 461]

I know some people may not know this or may forget but there is an update to this software that will suppress pressure being read below 20hz.

I will note that practically nobody needs to use the update even if the meter was somehow reading 130db @ lets say 10hz because your actual pressure reading at whatever note it is will still be just as accurate as the termlab is. It's just apparent that it does read pressure below that threshold and users have the option of installing the update to prevent that from showing up before you actually meter.. More of a cosmetic update than anything else. It doesn't effect performance with or without the update UNLESS you are metering below 20hz.

[bigrank916 72]

[B-chi 0]

So how accurate is it?

Fantastic review mate

[Tyan 1]

how much was this meter ...with shippin

[onebadmonte 235]

I am hoping to get some side by side testing done this Thursday (05-06-10). If all goes as planned I should have some vids the following morning. Stay tuned.

[thehawk93 2]

I'm here,

[onebadmonte 235]

Here it is everybody. First, a big thanks to BigJon. Apperantly the Term-Lab is a rare creature around these parts in Texas. Tell me what you think.

Meters were on the windshield on the passenger side. Here's a pic, sorry about the glare.

We metered BigJon's Navigator, 2 15" Nightshades and a SAZ3000. Just pics, had some technical difficulties with the video.

TL score

LCD Bass Meter Score

Meter locations

Let me here your thoughts.

[deernet 6]

Seems like its almost dead on accurate with the TL. I'm impressed.

[slim2fattycake 85]

I mean, if you really need that .1dB, then just calibrate it.

Great score and great job on the comparison.

[thehawk93 2]

So this product is almost dead on as the TL....

[thehawk93 2]

By the way great work on the review you are awesome...

[Hansk 1]

Excellent review .. what was price with shipping??

[B-chi 0]

Brilliant news.

[woodskilla 0]

just a thought... did you try switching the meters positions just to make sure that the .1 difference wasn't just position gain?? do you get what i mean?

[onebadmonte 235]

just a thought... did you try switching the meters positions just to make sure that the .1 difference wasn't just position gain?? do you get what i mean?

I get you mean. Unfortunately it's mosquito season here in south Texas so .1db is good enough.

[thehawk93 2]

Another question I'm sure others are wondering about???? Did you have to calibrate the meter at all to the TL?? Was it set to all 000's ???

[TechSys 3]

I think Im gonna try to order one next payday

[thehawk93 2]

There is a group buy and you don't have to pay until the end of the month.. You will get it cheap though group buy check it out in the for sale treads.....

[onebadmonte 235]

Another question I'm sure others are wondering about???? Did you have to calibrate the meter at all to the TL?? Was it set to all 000's ???

All test were conducted with the meter at it's factory preset calibration.

[thehawk93 2]

I though so but I'm sure people were thinking it and not asking it.....

[TechSys 3]

I know about the group buy, but other financial responsibilities come first. I don't want to join a group buy type thing unless I know for a 100% fact that I'll have the money. Makes me feel as if I'd look bad if I joined it and wasn't able to meet my end of the deal.

I will get one though, just not sure if it'll be next pay day or at a later date.

I am impressed by the review and videos. I do wonder if the sensor was place exactly where the TL meter was, would that .1dB be taken care of. I mean that isn't a big deal, even though, to most competitors, that .1db mean a win or lose. If it can be easily calibrated to match the TL precisely, then that is all the better. Not saying I would have to do that, I don't really care about .1dB unless I am in the lanes. If I'm in the lanes, well, then it probably won't be my meter doing the testing, so I can pretty much know what my score will be.

[slim2fattycake 85]

All termlabs are going to meter a little different as well. One may be more loose than another. So just saying...