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| Audio generator for sine and square waves |
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| tonedeak99:
Hey fellow EEV'ers! Looking to purchase an audio generator for audio/amplifier repair. My research has lead me in two directions. One for a vintage audio generator such as a Tek, Heathkit, Leader or HP. Second is a modern USB audio adapter like the Focusrite or the QuantumAsylum QA4xx units and using REW to generate the waveform. In the end I'm looking mainly for a clean waveform but low distortion and noise would be a plus. The cheaper the better! Any and all recommendations will be appreciated! Thanks! |
| KungFuJosh:
Here's three I've used for audio repair: Tenma 72-505 UNI-T UTG932 30MHz Siglent SDG2042X They're all good, and you get what you pay for. I sold the UTG932 to somebody else that needed an audio generator, and I only use the Siglent these days. |
| dobsonr741:
I would add the triangle waveform for quick detection of clipping and bandwidth degradation. |
| tonedeak99:
Thank you both. I was hoping for some more budget friendly options which is why the usb audio cards were so attractive to me. At this time this is just a hobby for me. |
| julianhigginson:
The Quantasylum units don't work with REW (I am pretty sure??) they are not meant to be soundcards. Yes they basically have all the same bits as soundcards, but they are not designed exactly the same, and have quite a few features that a soundcard would never have. I read something once about an older generation unit (QA401 maybe??) had some kind of audio driver but I have not seen it and don't know if it was any good. The reason you'd go with a QA403 and its special software over a USB soundcard and something like REW is that the Quantasylum is designed to do just what you want with testing, and is basically calibrated, etc. while your soundcard inputs will probably have an input level knob which guarantees every time you are measuring a signal you have that to take into consideration.... Also it has its own input range switching (again, all calibrated) to just handle different input levels with best possible S/N and is just better as a test instrument. But it costs a fair bit more (twice as much?) than a scarlet 2i2. this is where I was recently where I just snapped and bought a QA403 because I was really really sick of having to go so slowly with my measurements of a device with weird noise problems, using a soundcard and REW, and constantly needing to recalibrate/adjust every time I changed things. Also grounding issues using the soundcard were a bit funny sometimes (Device being worked on also had a USB connection and connecting/disconnecting them would make USB drop out on either device) if all you want is the waveform generator and you're not massively fussed about the exact level because you just want to crank the output and listen to see if it distorts or breaks up, rather that feed its signal back into your system to measure things like THD+N or do accurate frequency swept measurements, then a soundcard and REW is probably fine. you could probably do OK with way lower quality than a focusrite scarlet there, too. I'd be more concerned about going with that over a cheaper unit if you want to make accurate low noise floor measurements. if you're concerned about cost check out local facebook marketplace for either an older 2x2 focusrite scarlet (they are pretty ubiquitous and show up a lot) or maybe even some basic old test equipment. There's plenty of old analogue test oscillators out there if you look. |
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