For most purposes the tried and true Radio Shack meter does a great job.

Quote:
For most purposes the tried and true Radio Shack meter does a great job.

Agreed. I have that and the Check Mate one like it. Somewhere in this forum I've posted several measurements between the two on a single thread.

If you have an iPhone there is an app that turns it into a VERY powerful RTA.

That's a myth

I use the Galaxy CM-140. It covers a wider frequency range with better accuracy than the popular Radioshack meters. Whether that's important to you, and is worth the extra money is up to you.

Quote:
If you have an iPhone there is an app that turns it into a VERY powerful RTA.

Check out http://www.studiosixdigital.com/products_2.html . The spl meter and RTA also work with the iPod Touch (2nd gen). You need an external mike to use it with a first-generation iPod Touch,however.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

The Radio Shack meter is pretty consistent but inaccurate (i.e. consistently wrong!) in that it exibits increasing non-linearities at low frequencies. Rives Audio has a test tone CD that is specifically calibrated to compensate for the Radio Shack meter making it an excellent cheap solution.

I used that to show the same.