Do you have a multimeter?

[lucretius]

Sure, I have one laying around somewhere.  At onetime (long ago) I needed it to measure something -- can't remember what.  It's been so long that I forget how to use it -- I would need to read the instructions again and also, probably, relearn what it is I'd be measuring and why.

[mansr]

13 minutes ago, yamamoto2002 said:

My multimeters. Leftmost one is my favorite.

 

LCR meter, nice. Not many people have those.

[lucretius]

4 hours ago, R1200CL said:

Can we have a “do you have a oscilloscope” poll also ? 😂

 

 

We could add logic probe, lab power supply, maybe even breadboards and chips, etc. ☺️

[mansr]

2 minutes ago, lucretius said:

We could add logic probe, lab power supply, maybe even breadboards and chips, etc. ☺️

Don't forget the all-important tape measure for checking soundstage size.

[opus101]

I have a collection of el-cheapo DMMs - my most recent impulse buy : 

[yamamoto2002]

21 minutes ago, mansr said:

LCR meter, nice. Not many people have those.

 

It is nice to have to build amplifiers, component sorting to allay anxiety 😁

[bluesman]

6 hours ago, ddetaey said:

And one can see if the lights are on.

...even if nobody’s home 😛

[Dr Tone]

I have one, I used it allot years ago when I was building vintage fender/marshall guitar amplifier clones.  Now it's relegated to diagnosing issues around the farm.

[StephenJK]

I'm (originally) an Industrial Electrician by trade and went from an analog meter to the first Fluke digital way back in 1978 or so, and have been using one ever since.  I'm using a Fluke 189 right now and also have an older Fluke ScopeMeter that still works well.  These days I'm more involved in machine design and R&D, but always have a meter handy.

 

It can be a dangerous thing - one of the things we teach people starting with a multimeter is that, at least for signal level work there's no point taking a reading if you don't know what it should be.  For most electrical work, people are looking for voltage/no voltage and that's a lot more straightforward.  

 

Two things to watch for - Auto Ranging and AC/DC selection.

 

With auto ranging, a handy function, I was fooled checking SCR gating on a 480 VAC circuit where I had a reading of 420 or so, which didn't make sense.  In fact, the reading was millivolts and just picking up stray voltage, a "ghost" as it were.  Watch the units for ranging or set it manually.

 

With AC or DC selection you can easily get killed.  The example we use (in Canada) is what do you read when you connect your meter, set for DC, to a 600 VAC three phase circuit?  You read zero volts, because there is no DC.  But, oh boy, is there ever a voltage there.

 

I've had so many people over the years watching me troubleshoot complex industrial machines say to me "Hey, can you take a few minutes and show me how to use one of those?"  You have to be rude and say, "Get your journeyman's and come back in four years, then we can talk."  

[phosphorein]

Keithley Model 199.

 

[psjug]

An old radio shack meter - collecting dust and epoxy drops as you can see.  Only reason I bought this was because I needed a cheap and easy way to log some data.  But it has some nice functions.  I've never used the hFE.  My everyday multimeter is a B+K.

 

 

[mansr]

6 minutes ago, SJK said:

With auto ranging, a handy function, I was fooled checking SCR gating on a 480 VAC circuit where I had a reading of 420 or so, which didn't make sense.  In fact, the reading was millivolts and just picking up stray voltage, a "ghost" as it were.  Watch the units for ranging or set it manually.

At least it wasn't the other way around. That could have been dangerous.

 

6 minutes ago, SJK said:

With AC or DC selection you can easily get killed.  The example we use (in Canada) is what do you read when you connect your meter, set for DC, to a 600 VAC three phase circuit?  You read zero volts, because there is no DC.  But, oh boy, is there ever a voltage there.

My Fluke has a handy mode that displays DC and AC components simultaneously.

[Paul R]

1 hour ago, lucretius said:

 

We could add logic probe, lab power supply, maybe even breadboards and chips, etc. ☺️

 

How about one for USB analyzers? I upgraded my really old Beagle for a Beagle 12 a few months ago... 💸

[Paul R]

8 minutes ago, psjug said:

An old radio shack meter - collecting dust and epoxy drops as you can see.  Only reason I bought this was because I needed a cheap and easy way to log some data.  But it has some nice functions.  I've never used the hFE.  My everyday multimeter is a B+K.

 

 

I really miss Radio,Shack. Many a happy hour spent in those stores. Audio, electronics, computers... just everything. I do not think there are any stores like that any more. 

[psjug]

7 minutes ago, Paul R said:

I really miss Radio,Shack. Many a happy hour spent in those stores. Audio, electronics, computers... just everything. I do not think there are any stores like that any more. 

I miss the unique personalities of the employees in those stores.

[sphinxsix]

SS multimeters suck!  

 

 

[R1200CL]

1 hour ago, Paul R said:

How about one for USB analyzers?

 

You can get those as free SW for your laptop 😀

[Paul R]

3 hours ago, Jeff_N said:

Use it to adjust bias on my Yaqin MC-13S.

 

Off topic, but how do you like the Yaqin?  I have been looking at a lot of Chi-Fi lately, and to me some of the tube stuff looks really impressive. 😉

 

[Paul R]

3 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

 

You can get those as free SW for your laptop 😀

 

Yep, but high latency and I like hardware. 🧐

[pkane2001]

Bought this one earlier this year:

[esldude]

5 hours ago, mansr said:

Don't forget the all-important tape measure for checking soundstage size.

I doubt most members here have a tape measure.  And how likely is it calibrated for measuring the effects of data compression on height?  Even if members might be able to use one.

[Ralf11]

you didn't specify how many digits!!

 

I only have one 5.5 but half a dozen low rent ones 

[StephenJK]

4 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

SS multimeters suck!  

 

 

Except when it's set for resistance and you connect across a power circuit.  The digital meter will go beep beep beep to give you a warning.  The analog meter will blow up in your hands.  I speak from experience.  

[Ishmael Slapowitz]

yes, several 😎

[Sonicularity]

8 hours ago, STC said:

Even a slightest tilt of your head will change the frequency response where what supposedly to sound at exact level may sound louder or softer. 

 

Level match is is only useful if you do the blind test with headphones. With loudspeakers, it can change with every different position or addition of furniture in your room. It is hard to be consistent in a typical room. 

 

Yes, only used with headphones, which I rarely use anymore.  I just want to find a base when I try a new amp, as it always sounds like one is different if I just plug in headphones and turn the volume up.  The "OMG that sounds amazing!" moment becomes "seems the same to me" when I match the volume. The look, feel, reputation, price, and probably dozens of other things I am not so obviously aware of could impact my subjective impression.  Volume matching is just a small step in helping to remove some blatant biases.