Hi all,
I want to add a vumeter to my setup: Naim Uniti Atom + Sonus Faber Sonetto 2 + Kef KC62 sub (great sound by the way).
I’m interested in the Hayakumo Foreno vumeter from Japan: beautiful, high quality, expensive (!)
I asked Hayakumo if it is compatible and they tell me:
Whether or not it is compatible depends on whether the Uniti Atom is based on the +4dBu standard,
which is the professional equipment signal level.
I did some research on my end, but I couldn’t find any information to determine this.
If it is based on +4dBu, then the FORENO can be used.
The vu meter has balanced input, the atom doesn’t have balanced output, so I don’t know how you would connect them.
The vu meter has db adjustment levels on the front.
Welcome to the forum. I can’t answer your questions but I’m curious regarding what benefit you would obtain from attaching a box with VU meters to your Atom. They will certainly not improve the sound quality and will probably have an adverse effect.
There is no practical way to connect such a VU meter to an Atom. You cannot take the signal out, feed it through a separate device, then feed it back into the amp section, although it may be possible if you are using an external analogue source.
You could run it off the preamp out, assuming there are suitable leads to go from unbalanced rca to balanced xlr per channel. Plus accept that you might need to adjust the input sensitivity as the volume changes on the atom.
If you just want visuals, there are significantly cheaper devices that work with a simple mic input ie they are listening to the room. A bit like those dancing flowers.
I can see the point of a VU meter or equivalent when recording, to set levels for best recording quality and avoiding overload. If calibrated to the amp in use I can also see a value if you are likely to play at levels close to clipping and want to avoid. Otherwise I always wondered what they were for, unless for deaf people to see that something is playing… If you want a visual indication of fluctuating level why not a sound to light device? They used to be, maybe still are, used by discos, but these days you can buy coloured LED strips or lamps with an inbuilt microphone to do that for domestic ambient lighting.
