All we need is VU

I would love a metal box with a pair of VU meters in it. Think McIntosh looking ones. Would that effect the signal? Is there such a thing?

 

There’s a guy in Lithuania who loves and sells these things. Every imaginable kind. https://www.ebay.com/sch/saulius659/m.html

 

I wonder if the Bifrost 2 can drive the analog meters out the RCAs while feeding my monitors out the XLRs without degradation. I do not use a preamp and my run is 6 foot xlr to the sub and then 6 foot xlr from sub to monitor (per channel).

https://www.jlmaudio.com/shop/stereo-vu-meter-kit.html?display_tax_prices=0

I found another option. ^

 

I've added the VU meters in some of my builds without any trouble, no ill effect to the signal. They look cool and add more 'feeling' to the listening!

 

@fls.audio
Do you represent a commercial audio business? Or are these builds just for your personal use?

 

It’s just my daily hobby, my main business is not audio related. The thing was just out of my CNC machine, still haven’t got time to work on it again.

 

I always wanted to use the words "my CNC"

 

I do love the VU meters on my Phonitor xe! The FiiO X7ii also had a very cool VU meter but it was unfortunately eliminated in one of the updates.

 

Squeezebox Touch FTW

 

I am currently entertaining the fantasy of having a box made with a pair of VU meters and a Goldpoint attenuator in parallel. RCAs to the meter and might as well RCA out, XLRs in and out for the Goldpoint.
Perhaps these: https://www.banggood.com/2Pcs-VU-Me...-Driver-Board-p-1031012.html?cur_warehouse=CN

 

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/scre...r-yellow-backlight-db-o45mm-pair-p-14322.html

More round ones.

 

I also have the Phonitor XE - love the whole Victor Frankenstein VU thing.

 

Had one of these back in the day. Makes me feel old. I do still like the aesthetics of analog meters though. Let us know if you find something current.

https://www.retrothing.com/2013/01/radio-shack-apm-200-power-meter-lets-you-see-the-music.html

 

Barbarian here...

I do not like VU meters. When was the last time anyone here used one for anything but decor? And if you must know levels, bar displays are so much niftier and just better at it.

VU meters, on amplifiers at least, are, to me, a bit like steam punk. That thing where everything had to look like a 19th-century diver's suit. And, to me, that look like translates as fake. Also, ugly.

 

Best recent example I've seen is on the new Vinnie Rossi components. Meters and front panel UI is treated more like high-end watch faces/complications or automotive gauges. A really nice approach that looks great. Here's a photo of their integrated amp, but the same design language extends to all the components.

 

I'd admire it on the shelf. I'd give the aesthetics and the engineering/finishing skills their due. And I wouldn't buy.

At least, not on the face of it. Those are obviously not ordinary VU meters. If their function turned out to be useful, and all other things from sound quality to bank balance were above equal. well maybe. But still, probably not.

 

Looks like Vinnie is targeting D'Agostino in both looks and markup!

 

It belongs in the porn thread, where we can unashamedly want to lick it --- and suck its stupid pointy toes!

And, outside of porn, I can't help thinking about the amount of money going into the box. Money spent, not in any way on sound (although some audiophools would disagree), but purely on appearance.

When Musical Fidelity brought out a range of really-plain-box components (I have their phono pre-amp from that range) they pointed out that this was still good stuff: just minus the usual considerable percentage of case costs. ISTR that Schiit adopted the same philosophy too, although their gear always looked nicer than the simple-black-cube look of that MF range.

I really have no objection to good looks, and I am quite enthusiastic about the idea of great machining. But if I ever was (won't happen now) to pay big bucks for hifi, I'd so much rather my money was being spent on what's inside.

 

Oh dear... Many apologies. You are absolutely entitled to your VU tastes!

I know F All about electronics, but I wouldn't be surprised if they could be implemented in a way that wasn't even in the signal path, like current passing through the middle of a coil, thus actuating an ammeter?

 

Too bad D'Agostino didn't allocate any of that markup to taste ;-)

I get where you're coming from. I could never spend money on something I would use every day that I thought was ugly, even if it sounded amazing. At the low end, I would expect compromises on aesthetics. At the high end, there's no reason the industrial design shouldn't be as considered and well executed as the acoustic design.