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slow VU meters on Sony STR-V6

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ESM:
bottom line...

Sony STR-V6 (prepping for resale)
everything works perfect, perhaps i am just over reacting but the meters are almost dead..
unlike a sansui 9090db i had at one point, those meters danced all over..
there is a power button for the meters that i shot some deoxit in. (perhaps not enough?)

when powered on, they do not move at all
when powered off they barley move at all
same response with Aux, TT, and Tuner

i do have them hooked up to a pair of Canton Karat 100's which are 8ohm, 50 watt nom, 80 watt max
not sure if that would matter, just trying to cover my bases

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks

papabearjew:
@ESM  I did a quick check on my Phase Linear 400 amp.  It has huge VU meters.  When powered up they do nothing.  When powered down they deflect just a few millimeters. Also bear in mind depending on the calibration of the meters and whether they are true VU meters vs. RMS or peak power meters they might not deflect till cranked up quite a bit.  My Phase Linear has VU meters and there is no switchable range so unless it's cranked up quite loud they barely move.  My separate power meter has two selectable ranges 0-2 and 0-200 watts.  It has analog RMS meters with LED peak indicators.  Set at 0-2 watts it is quite active.  Set at 0-200 watts it's pretty inactive (unless nobody is home)!  I don't know if this helps or not but I'd be happy to try and help more if I can.  If you want me to do specific test with my stuff seeing what the meters do just let me know.  Happy to help

MacGeek:
The early MAC meters displayed db (voltage) and had a switchable scale (0, -10 and -20 db).  The newer amps display wattage, but also show a db scale.  With over 60 db of range, the meters are almost always moving.  For a short time, they made amps with switchable wattage and db circuits driving the meters.  Those models are very cool (Mc 2155 and Mc 2255), but don't have as much current capability as todays modern circuit designs.  The switchable circuits also added considerably to the price with out adding to sound quality or power.

PBJ-how accurate have you found the rat shack meters to be?  I had one of those once and found it a pain to have to get up and switch the range when I change volume significantly.

papabearjew:
Hey MacGeek,
I believe the power meters to be fairly accurate.  I had it tested/calibrated a number of years ago and it seems OK.  I really don't care that much as it's more for entertainment value having something to watch.  Without question the average person would be amazed how little wattage they're using with a still fairly loud value.  Maybe 2 watts or so.  I'm being left alone for a bit this evening so I'm going to play some loud symphonies and see what the wattage shows with a sound level reading of about 100 db(c) from my recliner.  The range on the VU meters on the Phase Linear 400 is from -20 to +3.  It also has a scale from 1 to 100 where as 100 corresponds to 0 VU.  Not really sure what it indicates.  Maybe a percentage.  It's not wattage as the amp puts out 200wpc RMS. My son's Carver M500 has much more functional meters.  Much wider scale.  Of course it is a much newer design also

papabearjew:
I just did some quick very unscientific testing for some quick readings.
Playing jazz at about 100 dB(c) from my seated position the power meter was hovering around 50 watts RMS with peaks flickering around 100 and occasionally 200.  The VU meter on my Phase Linear 400 was very active hovering mostly around -3 and frequently peaking at 0 VU with rare peaks at +1 and +2.  Playing a full symphonic piece at the same 100 db(c) everything stated above as far as readings were slightly higher.
Again this was unscientific as I didn't use a variety of musical pieces.  I guess I could do the test using pink noise which should give more accurate and repeatable readings.  That might be interesting.  I'll have to wear my shooting ear muffs though.
I'd be interested in any comments about this.  If you think I just rambled incoherently and am a total moron, and you're now dumber for having read it, I could easily live without your comments unless they're funny

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