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Test CD


JohnA

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Do they still sell them under a normal label?

I have the Alan Parsons & Stephen Court Sound Check 1 and 2 cd's from Mobile Fidelity but they are long out of print. I never opened the second one (more of a collectors item) but I use Sound Check 1 mainly to set my sub, and out of curiosity to check the Forte's frequency response and my room problems.

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On 7/5/2003 11:58:42 PM formica wrote:

John... are your looking for a CD because you don't want to generate the tones yourself? I ask that as I've been using
... it's freefor personaly use... you can create your .wav tones and burn them onto a CD in red book format...

Just thought i'd give you the option...

Rob
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I need a primer on this. I'm still in the analog era when it comes to generating test tones using an old HP *tube* generator.

Other than a CD burner, what software is needed?

TIA

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Sheffield Labs has one.

I use Dafos on Reference Recordings. If your system can play this at HIGH levels and not blow up, then everything's just fine.

3.gif

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Okay, In my view, the above is very good advice. Let me expand.

There are two great sources for cheapo systems which tell you a lot.

The NTH sound generator is a free ware program which you can download. It turns your computer into a sine wave generator. You can take the audio out from the computer and feed it to your stereo system.

This can be very enlightening. Or, you'll be as confused as the rest of us.

John A. had described his experience with putting a pure sine wave into your speakers and hunting around the room for nodes. I recall that in his case it was a matter of using the a.c. mains. Use the NTH though.

None the less, be careful with levels. Don't blast it. Just a pleasant level.

You can crank in a frequency (start with 200 Hz) and then walk around the room. You should be astonished to find some locatations where there is no sound at all. Yet a few feet away it will be loud. That is the effect of interference and standing waves. This is an introduction to wave mechanics and room acoustics.

Do try shifting the frequency up and down. You'll find that the nodes have moved. Nothing is going to make your sweet spot immune from nulls at all frequencies. But you have to do this experiment to believe it for yourself. You will have to find out for yourself that your living room is a major component of your HiFi system.

Do not try pumping 30 Hz into your speakers to a point where you hear it unless your

are very careful with the level. You can damage the little gems.

Sound Check 2 is available out of London. I did not have any success pasting in the URL. Just do a search for "sound check 2" and parsons. You'll get there.

This is a very good CD and is probably the best bang for the buck for a beginner, or anyone else. They'll want a credit card and will ship it across the Big Pond.

There is an option to buy a built in sound pressure meter. I would not recommend that as an investment. Rather, stick with the Radio Shack sound pressure meter.

Here is the good part. Many people want to know how to measure the response of their system at their sweet spot on the couch with some semblance of accuracy.

Sound Check 2 has 1/3 octave noise bands. There are well placed annoucements by Parsons or Mr. Court (the co-author).

You should be able to take readings off the RS meter in every 1/3 ocatave band and record them in a spread sheet or on a piece of paper. The meter will bounce around and you'll have to eyeball the median. No it is not going to resolve that there is a problem between 50 Hz and 30 Hz. The sine wave test should have shown you the problem.

This is not a perfect system of measurement, yet is probably as close as you can get for less than $100 for the CD and an RS meter. I believe it is fair to say that 30 years ago this set up would cost $10,000 or more.

There are other interesting bands.

During our visit to KAT in Indy I listened to the pink noise in an A-B-X test. There was no reason, to go to the X. A and B sounded identical. It also showed up that one speaker had a faulty connection.

Thanks to the mavins for suggesting the above. The two souces, plus your ears, and an RS SPL meter, will let you do some experimentation which will be very enlightening.

Gil

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On 7/6/2003 6:51:42 AM John Warren wrote:

I need a primer on this. I'm still in the analog era when it comes to generating test tones using an old HP *tube* generator.

Other than a CD burner, what software is needed?

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John... a direct answer to your question is no other software is needed other than Windows, NCH, and a CD burning application. The NCH software is actually quite simple to use... and gives you the option of playing the tones through the soundcard (ok if your PC is plugged into your system) or saving them to a file which you can burn on a CD (what I do)

From the Tone menu... select the type of test-tone (pink noise, sine wave, etc...) , mono/stereo (use mono for SPL), specified duration if you want to burn it as a track, etc...

NCH-Tone.jpg

post-11489-13819248310074_thumb.jpg

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Once the tone is what you want, you click the file menu, and you can "save as wave" ... choose a file name the makes sense to you, like "sine-00020hz-10s" ... etc...

NCH-File.jpg

Once you've created all the tones you want... then you open you CD burning software and burn a "music CD". If your CD player can read text CDs I suggest you choose that option (you have to choose burn at once to un-grey the box). When you have over 60 tones on your CD, it's hard to remember which is which... 2.gif

Good luck...

Rob

PS: BBB would be proud of my wallpaper... 1.gif

post-11489-13819248311304_thumb.jpg

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Forgot to mention... if anyone wants an easy set of 1/6th octave .wav tones of 10sec duration, I have a zip file of mine of about 2.3MB for the 65 files (12.5Hz to 20000Hz). I'm willing to post them... just need someone to host the file. (maybe Justin? 2.gif )

Post here if interested...

Rob

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John-

Because this CD is virtually out of print, I will be happy to make you a copy and send it to you. Afterall,

the recording studio here in Boulder was kind enough to do the same for me. The CD is currently

in storage. We're in the process of moving. So if you can wait 30 days or so that would be great. It

would also be good to have for future reference as well. It does so much more than generate

signals. It really is a wonderful tool. Here is a link which describes the functions and contents of the

CD.

http://www.interstudio.co.uk/sndchk.htm

Anyway, shoot me an email with your address and I'll send it to you as soon as I can.

John

P.S. Yes, you can still buy it. But, it will cost you. The cheapest I have seen it is $39.99. I've also

seen it as high as $129.99. Do a google search. "Sound Check Alan Parsons". You'll see what I mean.

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On 7/8/2003 7:51:03 PM johnellis wrote:

John-

Because this CD is virtually out of print, I will be happy to make you a copy and send it to you. Afterall,

the recording studio here in Boulder was kind enough to do the same for me. The CD is currently

in storage. We're in the process of moving. So if you can wait 30 days or so that would be great. It

would also be good to have for future reference as well. It does so much more than generate

signals. It really is a wonderful tool. Here is a link which describes the functions and contents of the

CD.

Anyway, shoot me an email with your address and I'll send it to you as soon as I can.

John

P.S. Yes, you can still buy it. But, it will cost you. The cheapest I have seen it is $39.99. I've also

seen it as high as $129.99. Do a google search. "Sound Check Alan Parsons". You'll see what I mean.

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may i also have a copy of this?

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