Once the volume is set correctly (so recording at
50% seems right), I then calibrate the impedance jig and the sound
card.
Keep the same jig setup (reference resistor shorted,
using Z input).
Now perform a channel calibration, just in case your
input channels have different gains. Do this via Options / Calibrate
then click the Test button under the channel difference option.
The jig is already acting like a loop cable, so our wiring is set
already.
The channel difference is then saved in the system
folder as Measurement.Calib. If you want to look at the chart you
can... mine looks like:

At first blush this is a pretty big difference, but
don't forget that Speaker Workshop autoscales. Looking harder we
see that the maximum difference is about -.06 and the phase difference
climbs all the way to 0.6 degrees - not much at all. This card has
well matched input channels.
Once the channels are calibrated, we then calibrate
the impedance jig. Set the Ref switch to the 3rd position (reference
resistor in-line and test resistors in-line, now) select Options
/ Preferences. Set the sample size to 32768 (my preference) and
the same rate to 44100. These rates will be used for the impedance
calibration. (You may need to click OK now and reopen the
dialog). Then go to the Impedance tab and click the Test button
in the Impedance Jig Definition section.
When the wizard asks for the first resistor use the
ten ohm (or so) in the test resistor set (set the jig switch to
use that resistor) and click next. For the second request flick
the 10/5 switch to the 5 position, enter the resistor value and
click next. If the results look awful and you're sure you did everything
right, try reversing your left and right output leads then try it
again.
The first time I did this I got 10million as a result
for the reference resistor (whoops) and realized I hadn't flicked
the 10/5 switch to 5.
Your results may be slightly off at this point. Do
the test again (now your starting point will be closer) and the
second approximation should be even better. After doing this my
dialog looked like:

Press Finish to have the values placed into your Calibration
preferences.
I usually leave sound card impedance set to 1000K
ohms and 0F. The input impedance is so high that it usually doesn't
matter unless you plan to test high impedances with your setup.
I use a 10 ohm reference resistor because when measuring
impedance peaks for drivers the peaks is often 20-40 ohms and a
higher reference resistor will produce better accuracy.
Speaker Workshop is now ready to be used. Save the
file with a real name and then reload it and proceed (just in case
you crash).
At this stage I usually check some known resistors,
capacitors, and inductors to verify the impedance accuracy. Create
a new generator resource, open it, and then select Measure / Passive
Component. My accuracy is usually well within 1% for these devices.
Resistors less than 20 ohms, capacitors around 1-10 uF, and inductors
of around 1mH work best for the checks. |