realistic power meter hookup?

JaxJim

Active Member
I've been thinking of purchasing a Realistic power meter - but was wondering if anyone knows how to hook them up. Most of them appear to have "speaker input" connections on the back. But, there are no speaker "outputs". Do you run a speaker lead into the meter, (from the amp) then run another lead out of that same terminal and into the speaker?
 
Do you run a speaker lead into the meter, (from the amp) then run another lead out of that same terminal and into the speaker?


That's what I'd do. You can run thin wires up to the power meter too. No need for larger gauge speaker wire.
 
Either way it's the same....connect in parallel at the amp terminals or at the power meter terminals.

I generally preferred to connect them in parallel at the amp because mine tended to have better terminals than the light spring clips on the power meter I had.
 
If I understand correctly then, the consensus is to run two sets of wires out the back of the amp. All the wires will run off the "speaker a" terminals. One set of wires goes into the power meter, and the other set of wires goes to the speakers. And I'd use small gauge wire to the meter. Ohms won't be affected since the meter doesn't offer any measurable resistance. Did I get it right?
 
Did I get it right?

In the big picture, yes.

In the details, it's not that the meter doesn't offer any resistance, it's technically just the opposite. It offers very high resistance, but because of this very high resistance, for all intents and purposes, the receiver doesn't see it/feel it on the outputs.

Low resistance = high load
High resistance = low load
 
oldhifiguy and overload could you take yourbickering at each other to pm's as its adding nothing to the thread .besides your already bitching at each other in the other apm thread.
 
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Interesting.

What I used to do with my APM-200 was use the speaker B terminals and some short speaker wire. It is true that these add very little amounts of resistance to the whole shebang. Nothing to worry about.
 
Interesting.

What I used to do with my APM-200 was use the speaker B terminals and some short speaker wire. It is true that these add very little amounts of resistance to the whole shebang. Nothing to worry about.

You can hook it up that way IF your amp/receiver has parallel speaker switches. If your amp wires A+B in series, this connection won't work. No need to make short wires to the meter box if the meter box has it's own feed. The IR drop to the box, with the box's impedance, won't cause much reading error at all. .....especially when compared to the meter's own accuracy.
 
I've got a MURA stereo power meter model APM-618 with RCA jacks marked right left amplifier and right left speaker and under those are screw terminal wire connectors marked the same and a center selector switch marked 4ohm and 8ohm. My amp is a Mcintosh MC-250 with amp hooked with RCA right letf cables and screw terminals for speakers hooked at 8ohm and comm. for right and left. I tried hooking small lamp cord to each wire and running the right left wires to the terminals on the Mura power meter but got nothing after turning it all on. I disconnected the jumper wires and hook RCA pigtail connectors to the right and left channels with one pigtail hooked to my preamp and the other hooked to the Mura power meter and turned it all on to still get nothing on the meters? This APM-618 looks identical to the Radioshack APM-100 on the front but the back terminals are onlt screw type on the RS and the Micronta which is probably who made the APM-100 for RS? I really need some advice?
 
Maybe the meter doesn't work.

Use a couple pieces of wire to the meter inputs and momentarily touch a small battery, say AA size, to the wires, (+) to (+) and (-) to (-). Does the meter show a reading?

If yes, then you have a problem with your connections to the amp. Did you also run the COM connections from the amp to the meter?
 
Gee, learn something every day. I always run my meter off a dedicated set of terminals and never thought it through as to being able to also use a set of speakers with it. Oh, wait. I can use it with that pair of speakers or both sets but not with the other set alone. I guess I could connect it to the set where I connect my headphone box and just pull the headphones when not in use but keep those terminals alive.

That would allow one more speaker pair that I am looking for. Maybe a few years ago I would have thought of this; the mind is fading.
 
I hooked two wires to the speaker screw terminals on the meter and touched the com. to the - side of a good AAA battery and the other wire to the + side of the battery and got nothing?
 
That doesn't sound too promising to me...but I don't claim to know all the details about it. I only know that most external meters are essentially just volt meters calibrated to read watts on a certain load and I'd have thought 1.5V would be enough to cause some sort of reading, albeit a low reading.
 
After searching high and low it is the meter doeasn't work??? Seller offers return. "back to the drawing board"
 
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