Audio testing with oscilloscope...noob question

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JAY X

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
683
Hi...

After completing my summing mixer pcb...i would like to findout the noise sources...
I never used an oscilloscope... ¿is it useful to find the noise sources?... like crosstalk... or the output of an amplifier...

Thank you for your help!

JAY X
 
I had (or have) the same problem. I bought a big old fashioned second hand scope from the dynatec 8000 series. Pretty cheap and it works ok. But best of all: it comes with a great user manual that not only explains the working of the machine, but also the concepts behind it. I found that extremely usefull as a starting point. Unfortunately for you  the manual that I have is in dutch, but I am sure that with a little help of Google (or duck duck go if you want to be sure no one is watching) you can find a similar manual in a langguage you understand. Good luck!
 
I started with little more than a scope and discovered you can do a lot with it. It is great for examining the ripple on power supplies for example and I have also found it useful for tracking down sources of periodic noise like the spikes produced by silicon rectifier diodes. You can measure noise with it and in some respects this is better than using an audio millivoltmeter. Most of these are average reading calibrated for sine wave which means they tend to under read noise which has a much higher crest factor (ratio of peak to average value). If you look at noise on a scope and measure its peak to peak amplitude by eye, then the rms value will be about one fifth of this.

Cheers

Ian
 
Hi,

Ok... i see how useful it can be...specially to find noise source of psu. Great! :)

Thanks a lot!

JAY X
 
Get a cheap scope, and learn how to use it.  The knowledge will serve you well.
It is a powerful troubleshooting tool.
Best,
Bruno2000
 
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