Even as an electronics novice, for years I have wished I had an oscilloscope to answer the occasional question about some low power device I own. I think I'm ready to buy one for that purpose, but am also propelled by a more specific need: I would like to be able to analyze analog audio signals (~20 Hz to ~20k Hz). Since this is such a narrow band of EMF I am wondering if I would be happy with something on the cheap end of the price ranges.
I want to visualize voltage curves with triggers and in real-time, but also frequency spectrum curves (performance of a speaker at audible frequencies, for example). I am guessing I will need a signal generator with white noise and frequency sweep functions and either a simple spectrum analyzer or an oscilloscope with a properly-featured FET function. (I don't know what those features might be.) I would also like to avoid spending more than $65 or so on a measurement microphone. (I wonder if I can use one of the aforementioned devices to compensate a speaker output frequency curve with a nominalized microphone signal recorded with a signal generator)?
I'm not at all against buying products like an oscilloscope dongle for a PC, but I am really picky about software quality, and I have no sense of how nice the software for these devices is. I'm also picky about looking only at high resolution displays. A 640 x 480 display would probably accommodate everything I want to do with sufficient precision, but I just don't want to have to look at such a display. It needs to look at least like a 96 dpi (standard PC) display, ideally being a retina display (but I'm not expecting to find that in my price range).
This would all be equipment for me to learn on, so I am unfortunately not sure exactly what I am looking for. I am pretty sure I will not grow into needing advanced features on any of the equipment nor measuring 5GHz Bluetooth signals. I'll be lucky if my brain can handle the complexity of the projects alluded to above. All of the equipment should have well-designed user interfaces.
Does anyone have any advice about what I think I want to do, or equipment recommendations? I'd prefer the total cost for all the equipment to be under $500, but I can go up to about $800 without losing sleep.
I want to visualize voltage curves with triggers and in real-time, but also frequency spectrum curves (performance of a speaker at audible frequencies, for example). I am guessing I will need a signal generator with white noise and frequency sweep functions and either a simple spectrum analyzer or an oscilloscope with a properly-featured FET function. (I don't know what those features might be.) I would also like to avoid spending more than $65 or so on a measurement microphone. (I wonder if I can use one of the aforementioned devices to compensate a speaker output frequency curve with a nominalized microphone signal recorded with a signal generator)?
I'm not at all against buying products like an oscilloscope dongle for a PC, but I am really picky about software quality, and I have no sense of how nice the software for these devices is. I'm also picky about looking only at high resolution displays. A 640 x 480 display would probably accommodate everything I want to do with sufficient precision, but I just don't want to have to look at such a display. It needs to look at least like a 96 dpi (standard PC) display, ideally being a retina display (but I'm not expecting to find that in my price range).
This would all be equipment for me to learn on, so I am unfortunately not sure exactly what I am looking for. I am pretty sure I will not grow into needing advanced features on any of the equipment nor measuring 5GHz Bluetooth signals. I'll be lucky if my brain can handle the complexity of the projects alluded to above. All of the equipment should have well-designed user interfaces.
Does anyone have any advice about what I think I want to do, or equipment recommendations? I'd prefer the total cost for all the equipment to be under $500, but I can go up to about $800 without losing sleep.