> are not true VU but rather AC meters .No Buffer driver required, just strapping across the output with a 3K6 resistor ?
A true VU meter is a rectifier AC meter with heavy and closely-controlled damping (magnet).
This is a cheap copy. (Taut-band construction is not the cheapest.)
If you spent a career watching true VU meters, these meters will be "twitchy", like too much coffee.
The VU meter was never a "precision" device for monitoring speech/music... but it was simple to apply ALL over a transcontinental landline network so every node could agree on levels.
I would not want to modulate a radio transmitter on a "vu" with 5% overshoot. It is only a half dB, but I bet it is not consistent over all transients.
The "VU" is still useful as "eye-candy" and so you know if your signal is way-weak or needle-slamming.
The 3.6K external resistor is IN the true VU specs.
The true VU uses Copper Oxide rectifiers. I don't think any other passive technology can read -20VU levels as well as CuOx, and AFAIK you can't get them anymore. I do wonder what Hoyt is using.
The rectifiers add distortion. Part-percent THD on a true 600r line, less for low source impedances.
> So what's so special then about this meter comparing to all the other cheap ones ?
Who says they are special? They are pretty. They are probably priced well. They went to the effort to use approximately the specified background color (optional).
Hoyt IS "special" because they have been making meters in/near Concord NH USA for a hundred years, and apparently still makes many products in a huge shed just off Rt 3. My dad lives down there. It might be a strange-but-fun day-trip for two old geeks.
