Topic: DIY VU meters for any source ...

[ChrisV]

Got my 2 vu meter kits today from UPS...the fully assembled one was *supposed* to be 9-15 V...actually I've read up to a 6-18 range on other websites.   But the piece of paper that came with it says 12-16V.  Screw that I am just gonna try to work it out with my 9V battery anyways and see what happens.    

The one that is not assembled looks like there are a crapload of parts I am gonna have to solder....could be time consuming but doesn't look overly hard.   But I am thinking I am going to like this one better so I am going to get on it soon.   Rated at 10-16V also gonna try to see if I can get it to run off a 9V or at last resort my RC battery packs I use for the UA-5.

Will post some pics once I get something or anything put together.

[Diggin]

all the fluffing of the svu-1 and 2, I just had to buy the svu-1.  Can't wait to get it, may need some help configuring it when the time comes but who knows, I might figure it out reading all the posts

[kev B]

all the fluffing of the svu-1 and 2, I just had to buy the svu-1.

*in my best possible C. Montgomery Burns voice*

I sense Team SV is taking shape. Excellent.  

[mmmatt]

cool... I'm suffering from a severe case of team envy!

Matt

[Diggin]

you will get on a team soon Matt, just be patient

[mmmatt]

thanks man... It's just so hard... (snif snif)
ha ha ha

[kgreener]

Hey mmmmatt and other SVU owners, I have a question for you.  Just got mine today and was fooling around with it, doing some testing (in my car, of all places.  Hey, I've got two small kids sleeping, what can I say).  Your advance work was very helpful, btw, I was able to get this thing calibrated right quick, so thanks.  However, I'm a bit concerned about something.  

It seems every time there was a drop in the volume of music played, such as when I switched from track to track on my cd player, the left channel LED's dropped out, and when the music restarted, only the right channel LED's came back blinking.  This happened a number of times and the only way I could get them back was to jiggle the left channel cal pot, and the LED's would reappear.  Did this happen for you too, or do you think I have a defective unit?  I'm thinking the cal pot is loose or something.  I'm going line out from the JB3, and I tried more than one RCA/mini cable as well...

I'm gonna do more testing tomorrow to make sure this isn't just a fluke, but did want to run it by y'all just in case you too experienced something like this...thanks.

[blu666z]

Definately sounds like you should get a different unit.

-Kevin

[mmmatt]

Definately sounds like you should get a different unit.

-Kevin

yup... Mine never did that

[kev B]

I have to go with those guys. I've had my SVU-1 for a day and have toyed a little bit, but it doesn't do what yours does. Sounds like you have a defective one. Maybe they can send you one while yousrs is in transit back to the retailer? Good luck.

[kgreener]

Yeah man, I called Beachtek earlier and a guy named Harry walked me thru a few things and determined it was in fact defective.  I just got off the phone with Guy Graphics, I'm sending this one back and the replacement is already in the mail on it's way to me.  Bummer!  I was hoping to play with this thing over the weekend, but alas good things come to those who wait I guess...

Great customer service, btw, from both Beachtek and Guy Graphics, cool people to deal with.

peace

[ChrisV]

Just an update on the 2 kits I bought....the one that needed to be assembled I gave it a try.    After I did I plugged it in and all the lights came on with no audio source so something went wrong.   I thought I did all the solder points correct but out of the 90+ I guess at least one went wrong.   Grr, wish they just had the assembled one available damnit.   Not sure if I'll be able to fix it.  That was 2 hours of my life I probably just wasted.

Anyways, so I decided to just use the already assembled one even though it isn't as nice as the other one.   Had to set it at the most sensitive setting to get most of the lights to light up...it is pretty bouncy since it appears each light is an interval of about 1 db but that is sorta what I wanted though.   I put it all into a plastic project box(5 bucks from Frys) which also has a nice 9V battery easy access slot too.   Put a couple switches on it(On/Off switch) and also a Left/Right switch.  And also a stereo(1/8 inch) plug too for the audio input.   Drilled holes for the lights.  

I am pretty satified with it and it is a major improvement over the UA-5 single red flickering light.   But in conclusion I wouldn't recommend doing this to people since it too way to much time and effort and probably worth it to throw down more cash to get the SVU-1 or 2 meters.

I'll post a few pictures tonight of my contraption just for the heck of it though ;p

[blu666z]

Guess I should post my review now.  Ran these on Saturday night for a short opener.  HUGE improvement over the UA-5 light.  Although, I'm not real happy with the tape itself, levels seem to be very even.  Calibration took me about an hourish.  Created a cd with 10 minutes of a middle C tone.  Placed both mics infront of the same speaker.  Turned the gain all the way down on one channel and raised the level on the opposite channel until the peak light was very very weakly visible.  Calibrated the meters to lighting the last red light.  Repeated the process for the other channel.  The calibration is nice because you can set the SVU-1 to peak at any point.  I started having the yellow light match the UA-5 peak light but then the last red light was never used.  After I was satisfied visually, I recorded the same tone adjustly my level solely using the SVU-1.    Then took that sample and analyzed it on SoundForge and both channels were dead on.  I would definately recommend this to ANYONE with a UA-5.

-Kevin

[ChrisV]

Kevin, your tape didn't turn out good either for Marcus?    Mine had a shitload more crowd noise than I thought it would....during the concert it didn't seem to bad at all but my mics picked up much more than my ears did I guess.

Damnit, I didn't upgrade mics to pick up peoples conversations better ;p

[mmmatt]

 I would definately recommend this to ANYONE with a UA-5.

-Kevin

I think that is the concensus so far... Well worth the dough as far as I'm concerned.

Matt