True RTA

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,236
81
1,725
New York City
Has anyone set up TrueRTA? Was wondering how accurate it is, hard is it to calibrate, set up and use, what soundcard do you use, etc.?
 

Kal Rubinson

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2010
2,360
697
1,700
NYC
www.stereophile.com
Has anyone set up TrueRTA? Was wondering how accurate it is, hard is it to calibrate, set up and use, what soundcard do you use, etc.?
Setup is trivial. Any mic/sound card will work but a USB mic makes it simple.
 

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,236
81
1,725
New York City
Setup is trivial. Any mic/sound card will work but a USB mic makes it simple.

Thanks, I was thinking of using it in conjunction with the AS cartridge alignment LP.
 

jdza

Well-Known Member
May 3, 2010
294
255
1,513
I have used true RTA for almost 10 years now.It kept me sane and played a huge role while I was designing and building( well having it built ) my speaker system. I mainly use REW now for room/speaker measurements but true RTA can still do stuff that REW can't and vice versa.It has eg a facility for holding peaks so is valuable for measuring tape recorder FR with a test tape sweep or phono system FR with an appropriate test record sweep.I am not totally comfortable with the oscilloscope function though but that probably is more due to my computer illiteracy than the program. I also never quite figured how to take snapshots of measurements but again that's me as freddyi over on AA High Eff often posts nice true RTA snapshots. The people at true RTA is also very helpful and that $39 gets you a code that can be transferred from computer to computer for ever.

It is as accurate as your souncard/interface is.Again probably my Neanderthal outlook on life but a calibrated USB mike recently led me straight into Alice's maze as recalibration of my speaker output had me listening to a + 20db bass boost for several weeks,rattling the house apart , making the dogs vomit and causing panic attacks in my kids and all passers by whilst I bravely soldiered on convinced that it measures flat so it must be right. Return to my trusty Focusrite interface and yet another calibrated mike showed my USB mike measurements to be way off and my ancient trusty Behringer to be correct after all!
 

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,236
81
1,725
New York City

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,236
81
1,725
New York City
I have used true RTA for almost 10 years now.It kept me sane and played a huge role while I was designing and building( well having it built ) my speaker system. I mainly use REW now for room/speaker measurements but true RTA can still do stuff that REW can't and vice versa.It has eg a facility for holding peaks so is valuable for measuring tape recorder FR with a test tape sweep or phono system FR with an appropriate test record sweep.I am not totally comfortable with the oscilloscope function though but that probably is more due to my computer illiteracy than the program. I also never quite figured how to take snapshots of measurements but again that's me as freddyi over on AA High Eff often posts nice true RTA snapshots. The people at true RTA is also very helpful and that $39 gets you a code that can be transferred from computer to computer for ever.

It is as accurate as your souncard/interface is.Again probably my Neanderthal outlook on life but a calibrated USB mike recently led me straight into Alice's maze as recalibration of my speaker output had me listening to a + 20db bass boost for several weeks,rattling the house apart , making the dogs vomit and causing panic attacks in my kids and all passers by whilst I bravely soldiered on convinced that it measures flat so it must be right. Return to my trusty Focusrite interface and yet another calibrated mike showed my USB mike measurements to be way off and my ancient trusty Behringer to be correct after all!

Thank you that was really helpful!
 

Cyclotronguy

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
78
13
313
N. CA
Hi Myles

I don't use TrueRTA all that often, but I do have it in one of my older computers. Sound card, Berhinger mic, Shure Bros preamp.

It is for all practical purposes mostly "spot-on" with when I do outdoor plots of speakers..... ie MLSSA waterfall vs RTA.

The MLSSA system runs with either ACO Pacific or Bruel & Kjaer at the front end vs very inexpensive Berhinger mic .... so very much an apples and oranges as far as data acquisition goes. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it (TrueRTA) seems more accurate than it has any right to be.

Cyclotronguy
 

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