Any recommendations for a digital volt/multi meter?

[JonW]

Before putting together my first crossover, I should probably have a digital volt meter/digital multi meter around. To test things ahead of time and not risk frying my amp. I'm a total novice when it comes to electronics. And I can't imagine I'll use the meter for anything other than crossover testing. Chuck said I should look for one that can measure capacitance and/or frequency along with AC and DC voltage and resistance.

Are there any particular models you might recommend? Thanks.

[Bent]

What budget?
we use Flukes,
model numbers 87, 89, 187, etc
most recent ones are mark IV's of the 187's and 189's - but these are higher end DMM's that are in the 500 dollar neighborhood.

[dyazdani]

I use a Fluke, but I don't think it does capacitance or frequency...

[JonW]

Thanks. Not sure on the budget. I actually don't know what range to expect for a DVM/DMM that would do what I want- just build crossovers. Nothing fancy as I really don't know what I'm doing. (You put the electrodes in your ears, right?) I hope I can get away with much less than $500, though.

[ThomasW]

For crossovers you probably want a LCR meter. That way you can measure inductors and capacitors.

For a DMM you need to decide whether or not you want to pay the premium for a 'True RMS' unit vs a standard one. 'True RMS' are the more expensive and more accurate.

As with anything there are cost ranges for any meter, you don't need to spend $500 if this is just for DIY audio.

[Dennis H]

The Elenco LCM-1950 is about the cheapest one that does it all -- volts, amps, resistance, capacitance, inductance, etc. PE sells it for $95 (without naming the brand or model number - strange) but you can buy it directly from Elenco's internet storefront for $60. For those who already have a DVM, the $90 LCR-1810 looks a bit nicer for measuring components. More accurate and you can use the regular probes instead of the little holes on the front panel where the 1950 expects you to plug in PC board sized components. Either one should be fine for speaker hobbiests.

http://www.cs-sales.com/lcm1950.html

http://www.cs-sales.com/lcr1810.html

[Hdale85]

Dennis those links arent working?

[ThomasW]

They work fine for me....so check your settings

[dyazdani]

They didn't work for me either (on two different browsers) ?? Oh well, I got to them anyway...

[chasw98]

Personally, I have 2 Flukes, a bench top 8050A True RMS and an 87, plus a good old Simpson 260 with mirrored meter! But seriously, that Elenco LCM-1950 looks perfect for what Jon wants to do. And for $60.00 it is right in the neighborhood for a household meter.

Chuck

[Dennis H]

Oooh, oooh, I almost forgot. Praxis has an LC Meter script that will run in the free demo mode. You have to download it separately from the program. Setting it up is a lot more complex than just using a meter but it has the advantage of letting you pick the frequency where you measure. And you can do quite a bit of other stuff in the demo mode as well.

PRAXIS software is available for free download, and can be used in its free mode for:

Woofer Thiele/Small measurements

Pink Noise/RTA measurements up to 1/48th octave for in-room frequency response

Inspection, formatting and printing of measured data files from PRAXIS and other measurement systems.

Postprocessing of measured data

Development of programmed scripts

Exploration of PRAXIS' features

When completed with the AudPod, PRAXIS operates with full capability for a vast array of accurate, calibrated measurements and complex functions.

http://www.libinst.com/praxis_downloads.htm

[Mudjock]

If the budget is really tight, check out www.web-tronics.com test equipment section. I have used a couple of their DMM's and am pretty happy with the quality/$.

[Dennis H]

Another thing about the Praxis demo mode is the first step in measuring the TS parameters is to run an impedance sweep. There's no reason you couldn't run it on the assembled speaker to make sure it looked right. Then, if you have a mic, you could run the RTA to make sure you didn't wire a driver backwards.

[JonW]

The Elenco LCM-1950 is about the cheapest one that does it all -- volts, amps, resistance, capacitance, inductance, etc. PE sells it for $95 (without naming the brand or model number - strange) but you can buy it directly from Elenco's internet storefront for $60. For those who already have a DVM, the $90 LCR-1810 looks a bit nicer for measuring components. More accurate and you can use the regular probes instead of the little holes on the front panel where the 1950 expects you to plug in PC board sized components. Either one should be fine for speaker hobbiests.

http://www.cs-sales.com/lcm1950.html

http://www.cs-sales.com/lcr1810.html

Hey, $60 ain't bad. Sounds like this might be the one for me. Thanks for the link.

[JonW]

Oooh, oooh, I almost forgot. Praxis has an LC Meter script that will run in the free demo mode. You have to download it separately from the program. Setting it up is a lot more complex than just using a meter but it has the advantage of letting you pick the frequency where you measure. And you can do quite a bit of other stuff in the demo mode as well.

Wow- meters are so sophisticated these days that you can download software to them? Go figure. Probably way out of my league. Heck, I still have to learn how to solder together all these parts I'm about to order.

[Dennis H]

Wow- meters are so sophisticated these days that you can download software to them?

Yup and they are even built to look susiciously like a laptop PC. Whoda thunk it.

[JonW]

Yup and they are even built to look susiciously like a laptop PC. Whoda thunk it.

OK, I see. It's for a laptop. :P
So do you hook electrodes up to the laptop? Or, rather, I'd guess you somehow hook the laptop right into the meter and control the meter from the computer. You must need higher end meters for this, I'd think. Maybe way beyond me at this point. I'm still thinking you put the electrodes in your ears or something. (or was it the nose?)

[Dennis H]

No, no meter involved. Praxis is a room/speaker measurement system, the one JonMarsh is using now -- think Room EQ Wizard on steroids and growth hormones. It's about $1K for the full version with a calibrated mic but the demo version will let you do a few things. Like all these programs, it's a pain to setup, but someone who has REW running wouldn't have any trouble as all the same hardware will work.

[JonW]

Huh. Very interesting. I just finished reading the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook. With all the discussions of measurements and such in there, it's quite interesting. Not sure I'll ever get that into things, but we'll see. I enjoyed building my sub more than I expected. So I then bought a bunch of tools, read some books, and will now try to build my first speakers (Modula MT). So far, I've learned a lot and had lots of fun. :T