Another WT3 problem.

[johnnyrichards]

On eight consecutive sweeps across two separate drivers, each successive sweep was quieter than the one before.

Before everyone jumps in and automatically deflects potential blame away from the device in question here is what I did:

1. After plugging it in, did the thumb twiddle thing. 2+ minutes for mine, the recommended 90 seconds is never enough.

2. Double checked Windows volume control was turned all the way up.

3. Calibrated using a 1% 1K resistor. I realize this has to be calibrated every time you plug it in.

4. Calibrated test leads.

5. Perform first sweep, good results. Perform seven more sweeps to see how repeatable the device is with the above mentioned results.

6. Let unit sit for three minutes, run sweep again everything looks good. Until each successive sweep, where the problem arises.

7. Let sit for a couple more minutes and run sweeps with no problems for as long as I like. Lather, rinse, repeat. Sometimes I can run as many sweeps as I want, and sometimes it starts after the first one.

So, anyone else experience this?

[carlspeak]

Re: Another WT3 problem.

Oy, yet another WT3 problem surfaces....

[DanP]

Re: Another WT3 problem.

I was just using my WT3 over the weekend and experienced the usual weirdness as well. This time I went through each of my 3 USB ports and reconfigured each one (changed level in from 100 to 1 and sample rate to 2-channel 16 bit 44100Hz). None of the ports worked correctly, so I went back to reconfigure them again and the level in was back at 100. I changed the level back to 1 again and everything worked fine. I'm not sure why, but apparently it didn't take my settings the first time. Perhaps you could go back through and see if your settings have changed.

Dan

[Leroy R]

Re: Another WT3 problem.

Have you noticed this with all drivers or is it a specific driver? I have noticed a similar anomoly, but it seems to be associated with the driver being tested. I assumed it had something to do with the driver.

[Ron_E]

Re: Another WT3 problem.

What's the ambient noise level like when you test? WT3 uses a very low level signal and speakers make great microphones. It's a bad combination if you're trying to make measurements in a noisy environment. I calibrated mine when I installed it and as near as I can tell it's been making good measurements ever since.

Ron

[Ludo]

Re: Another WT3 problem.

On eight consecutive sweeps across two separate drivers, each successive sweep was quieter than the one before.

Before everyone jumps in and automatically deflects potential blame away from the device in question here is what I did:

1. After plugging it in, did the thumb twiddle thing. 2+ minutes for mine, the recommended 90 seconds is never enough.

2. Double checked Windows volume control was turned all the way up.

3. Calibrated using a 1% 1K resistor. I realize this has to be calibrated every time you plug it in.

4. Calibrated test leads.

5. Perform first sweep, good results. Perform seven more sweeps to see how repeatable the device is with the above mentioned results.

6. Let unit sit for three minutes, run sweep again everything looks good. Until each successive sweep, where the problem arises.

7. Let sit for a couple more minutes and run sweeps with no problems for as long as I like. Lather, rinse, repeat. Sometimes I can run as many sweeps as I want, and sometimes it starts after the first one.

So, anyone else experience this?

You forgot to say a prayer between steps 2 and 3 :p

My WT3 also has a mind of its own on occasion, without warning. My only guess is that perhaps its set off after I plug in some other device into the USB port like my external sound card, but I can't say that I've isolated a pattern to this misbehaviour.

[John L. Murphy]

Re: Another WT3 problem.

On eight consecutive sweeps across two separate drivers, each successive sweep was quieter than the one before.

Before everyone jumps in and automatically deflects potential blame away from the device in question here is what I did:

1. After plugging it in, did the thumb twiddle thing. 2+ minutes for mine, the recommended 90 seconds is never enough.

2. Double checked Windows volume control was turned all the way up.

3. Calibrated using a 1% 1K resistor. I realize this has to be calibrated every time you plug it in.

4. Calibrated test leads.

5. Perform first sweep, good results. Perform seven more sweeps to see how repeatable the device is with the above mentioned results.

6. Let unit sit for three minutes, run sweep again everything looks good. Until each successive sweep, where the problem arises.

7. Let sit for a couple more minutes and run sweeps with no problems for as long as I like. Lather, rinse, repeat. Sometimes I can run as many sweeps as I want, and sometimes it starts after the first one.

So, anyone else experience this?

Hi Johnny,
I'm sorry to hear that you are still having problems with your WT3 unit. I remember that you reported previously that you were having trouble getting repeatable measurements. Reading your detailed report here I suspect that you have a shock sensitive hardware unit that is intermittent and ends up restarting the 90 sec startup timer with the least bump. I had one prototype that behaved similar to what you describe. Please contact support at Parts Express and ask for a replacement hardware unit. Reference this thread if you don't mind.

Here below is a screen shot I just took after making 20 sequential measurements on a driver. I saved each measurement to a memory and the whole process took about 2 minutes or less.



You see here 20 measurements overlaid in what appears to be a single plot. They overlay so precisely that you only see a stray pixel out of place here and there. There is no significant noise to be seen on any of the traces. Any WT3 user should be able to reproduce this result. If not, something is wrong and you need to contact support at Parts Express for assistance.

Johnny, once your hardware unit is replaced I hope you will be able to report that you are getting noise free measurements with excellent repeatability.

Regards,

John

[johnnyrichards]

Re: Another WT3 problem.

For other reasons, I am going to build a dedicated measurement PC so I will see how it behaves when that is done. Thanks, John.

[czag]

Re: Another WT3 problem.

Never mind, I somehow skipped over John's post before I replied.

[johnnyrichards]

Re: Another WT3 problem.

After trying a few other things with no success (in fact the unit is no longer functioning even intermittently) I have contacted customer service.

[marstedt]

Re: Another WT3 problem.

I've been having the same problem with my unit since day one but had given up on tech-support after a few tries. I sent John an email yesterday regarding the 2.0 upgrade as well as this issue.

For some reason the WT3 behaves differently in Win7 than in Vista. Will do some more tinkering and see if I can figure this out.

[RINNAV]

Re: Another WT3 problem.

I have the same problems, I am sure it is an OS (W7) compatibility quirk. Sometimes I get consistent readings and other times I have to reboot, reconfigure and "pray."

[[email protected]]

Re: Another WT3 problem.

i use wt3 and ominmic on my w7 laptop exclusively. wt3 always on top, om always on bottom. thsese days, they both work fine. i never check the settings on wt3, but i always check with the 1k resistor.

[Brian Steele]

Re: Another WT3 problem.

What's the latest version of the WT3 software btw?

It would be nice to see some additional functions, like measuring capacitance and inductance.

[marstedt]

Re: Another WT3 problem.

What's the latest version of the WT3 software btw? It would be nice to see some additional functions, like measuring capacitance and inductance.

HAA! Oh that's funny cause that's exactly what's been added to the v2 update. Before that, the latest 'free' version was 1.5.0.

Behold, version 2!

http://www.trueaudio.com/wt3/wt3_QCP_upgrade.htm