'scope terminology

[Adam Stouffer]

Hello all, I'm in the process of trying to decide what type of scope to
buy for audio work. What is the correct term to descibe analog scopes
that display the numeric readings right on the screen? Say for example
it will show you have a 3vPP signal and the freq is 12Khz? I know the
digitizing scopes all do this but only a few analog models seem to.

Is an old digitizing scope like a HP 54501A or 54200A overkill for doing
audio work, or should I stick to analog? Any input appreciated.


Adam

 

[Walter Harley]

"Adam Stouffer" <adam_stouffer@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:yEiGc.21283$6e7.11228@nwrddc03.gnilink.net...

Hello all, I'm in the process of trying to decide what type of scope to
buy for audio work. What is the correct term to descibe analog scopes
that display the numeric readings right on the screen? Say for example
it will show you have a 3vPP signal and the freq is 12Khz? I know the
digitizing scopes all do this but only a few analog models seem to.

Is an old digitizing scope like a HP 54501A or 54200A overkill for doing
audio work, or should I stick to analog? Any input appreciated.

You might need to be more specific about what you mean by "audio work."

For repairing hifi amps, any old 20MHz dual-trace scope will do fine - you
can probably find something on eBay for less than $100. Couple that with a
cheap multimeter and a frequency counter (or a calculator) and you'll be in
great shape. The cursor features you describe are nice (I use 'em on my
2465A) but not by any means necessary.

For designing very-low-distortion circuitry, in conjunction with a
distortion analyzer, a digitizing scope can allow you to average a wave over
many repetitions and thus see (repetitive) distortion buried in (random)
noise. Some will also do FFT's, so you don't need a spectrum analyzer. (Or
a sound card and computer.)