On 4 Jan 2006 14:09:30 -0800, "Bret Ludwig"
wrote:


Arny Krueger wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com


Today, for practically any purpose that I can imagine in
my home shop, the audio output on my PC sound card rules.

Most PC sound cards vastly outperform legacy audio signal generators, both
for low distortion and flatness. They also have excellent settling times.

A decent voltmeter tells me the output level.

The trick is finding an inexpensive one with good frequency response. My
best meters are Flukes (not cheap) or the ProTek 506 (flat enough but not
wonderful and still not exactly cheap).

No Arny, the trick is to ante up once and buy a good one from a first
or at least second tier manufacturer whose specs well eclipse the job
at hand. Second tier manufacturers are sometimes better because they
use off the shelf parts where Agilent and Tek used their fab
capabilities to make wonderful chips....that no longer exist. And they
are not making more.

If commodisumo PeeCee hardware were test grade National , Aeroflex,
Agilent and others would not be getting the hemmorhoid-splattering
prices they do for CompactPCI and VME/VXI hardware. A peecee is not a
core piece of test equipment. Yes you can do a few things with a sound
card, but a Audio Precision box is NOT a sound card in a fancy box.

Nor does it contain tubes.................
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering