Accuracy of Woofer Measuring Methods

[nobby]

Just curious if anyone has any real-world experience in the accuracy of some of the methods for measuring woofers. For example, is Woofer Tester 3 more or less accurate than the methods Dickason outlines in the Loundspeaker Design Cookbook? I have access to function generators, frequency counters, and gain/phase analyzers but am trying to decide if its worth it to spend the $100 for WT3. I realize it is more convenient to use, but is it more accurate?
Thanks!

[carlspeak]

Have you considered the WT2? After all, it was the original tester. I have used mine for years and have trusted the outcomes as long as I keep it calibrated. You may want to consider visiting the WT2 website and post a question regarding the accuracy of their instrument vs basic measurment techniques. The tech folks there are very helpful and responsive.

Both WT's make life easy. Data pops up on the screen and you get nice charts.

Scientists will tell you to use the most basic measuring tools to get the most accurate results. However, you then have to grind thru the formulas to calculate the results you want and then maybe plot them. If your sharp with MS Excel you could create a macro to do all this I suppose. So, Dickason's methodology may be the way to go.

Consider this, it's highly doubtful if anyone has compared all three methods and come to a difinitive conclusion.

[rone]

I have measured a woofers the old fashioned manual way, and also with speaker workshop, as I was changing over I measured a few both ways and speaker workshop seemed to be just as accurate, but it took much less time.