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Post by keymod on Dec 30, 2014 7:01:51 GMT -6
I have no problem following directions and building stuff and have a lot of good results over the years. However, when it comes down to calibrating and final set-up, I always get nervous and don't look forward to doing it. Any suggestions for making it less stressful? I have a good DMM. Perhaps I need a proper tone/signal generator. Is a scope really necessary?
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Post by jimwilliams on Dec 30, 2014 10:40:00 GMT -6
A good stuff drink before you power it up usually will settle you down. That way if the smoke comes out you can laugh too.
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Post by svart on Dec 30, 2014 13:29:23 GMT -6
I have no problem following directions and building stuff and have a lot of good results over the years. However, when it comes down to calibrating and final set-up, I always get nervous and don't look forward to doing it. Any suggestions for making it less stressful? I have a good DMM. Perhaps I need a proper tone/signal generator. Is a scope really necessary? A simple sig-gen will do. I frequently use the one built into my mixer, or I use a plug-in tone generator and just output from a DAC. The important thing is that the output be steady in power, no real fluctuations. A good DMM should be able to do an AC voltage measurement of a lot of audio frequency sinewaves. An O'scope would really only be needed in special cases, or to make sure your DMM is measuring correctly. As long as the frequency stays fairly steady, even if your DMM is technically measuring off, the accuracy rarely varies with voltage, so the error should track over power levels. Also, be aware of the dBu, dBV differences and measure accordingly. I generally measure everything terminated, because that's how it's going to be used, unless noted differently by the instructions. |
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Post by keymod on Dec 30, 2014 15:46:00 GMT -6
I'm not so much worried about smoking anything because I've been relatively successful over the years. It's more like I am concerned that my calibrations will be precise and accurate so that the projects will perform as intended by the designers. Maybe it's also because the calibration part isn't as fun as the actual building.
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Post by jayson on Jan 4, 2015 11:51:12 GMT -6
These days a scope can be a pretty inexpensive investment if you want to add one to your tool kit. I recently picked up a nice Tektronix 2245A for a relative pittance on ebay; at 100mHz max bandwidth it's not really the latest & greatest but it's not like I'm going to be calibrating CCDs on 4k video cameras with it. With four channels for basic calibration and troubleshooting of audio gear it goes way beyond what I'm likely need.
That being said though, I have yet to do a DIY project that actually required one.
Might also be worth it for you to take a look at one of the USB based peripherals but I have no idea what they cost or whether they're worth it.
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