Unknown suppressors OG testing

Explain to me, as a human, why I should care about the Z values? Does it affect my hearing, even if I can’t hear it?

It was already covered in my superlong winded post:

"So, A-weighting can be misleading if there's a lot of energy being attenuated as damage can still be done to systems even if we don't hear it so good!"
You'll notice that I said, "systems" as the sound energy affects each individual organism, machine, etc. differently. "What" can get damaged is a complicated topic, depending on frequency content and structures involved (incl biological). And of course, the amplitude.

As a consumer that knows nothing about all that, I'd want the unmolested levels (Z-weight) vs filtered levels (A-weight), wouldn't you?

You'll notice that the new SAAMI standard does not allow A-weighting. It requires Z-weighting or unweighted.

Disclaimer:

I was just a Noise Guy, sometimes designing tests and other times running standardized tests, setting up equipment, then processing data and reporting it. Some of it for international regulatory requirements, so it was never done willy-nilly like we often see in the suppressor/silencer/can world. And to be clear, am not an expert in NIHL (Noise Induced Hearing Loss).

However, any sound at sufficient amplitude can cause biological damage. It seems like there's a lot more research being done on this, or least more being published. Not just "hearing" but also brain damage during firing events. But hopefully, that's why all of us are interested in cans!

FYI - brain damage can occur at lower pressures than researchers thought, but I don't know if the actual values have been published or released to the public yet. A little bird told me that, so take it for what it's worth!
 
Time/energy/frequency behavior creates what we think of as 'tone' - especially in the free field window. TBAC alludes to this when they use the short-term response to 'eliminate' the walls in their building. It's more complicated than that, but a straight frequency plot dos not represent what our ears hear.

Nobody claimed that a straight frequency plot represents what we hear. I think that you are conflating "tone" and "tonal quality". A tone is a single frequency. Frequency includes time obviously, cycles per second. Instead of tonal quality, one could say, "Pleasing tones" or "Healing tones" for the person on the street or can consumer.

TBAC windows the time signal to avoid the reflected sound. And they use a pressure mic, instead of a free-field mic w/appropriate setting in their B&K analyzer.

But maybe this discussion is worthy of a separate thread, as mentioned above.
 
Random observation in regards to bore diameter for front of barrel suppressors from 2024 TBAC summit-

Magnus 30 is smaller/lower volume than the 338 Ultra in but the magnus performed slightly better at the shooters ear on a 20" 308.

Nomad LTi XC (30 cal can) is smaller/lower volume than the Nomax (Nomad line's 338 offering) and the LTi performed better at shooters ear with 20" 308.

To me that is further evidence supporting bore diameter does have an impact.
 
@MODS. Could we create a sub forum that is Supressors only? The Nerd Herd can complicate hammering a nail. I appreciate the detail, just not for every aspect of the suppressor industry.

A suppressor is the new “optic” drop test device up for debate. They deserve their own spot.

I agree - the less information the better!

And I am slow at typing!

Anyone can shoot me a PM / DM.
 
@MODS. Could we create a sub forum that is Supressors only? The Nerd Herd can complicate hammering a nail. I appreciate the detail, just not for every aspect of the suppressor industry.

A suppressor is the new “optic” drop test device up for debate. They deserve their own spot.
Amen, too many, bad four letter words used in this thread now. The first one was MATH lol.
 
B
Random observation in regards to bore diameter for front of barrel suppressors from 2024 TBAC summit-

Magnus 30 is smaller/lower volume than the 338 Ultra in but the magnus performed slightly better at the shooters ear on a 20" 308.

Nomad LTi XC (30 cal can) is smaller/lower volume than the Nomax (Nomad line's 338 offering) and the LTi performed better at shooters ear with 20" 308.

To me that is further evidence supporting bore diameter does have an impact.
Bore Diameter seems to have an impact. Yes.

Front cap size really doesn’t.
 
Were you able to get the meter to measure A-weighting and Z-weighting simultaneously?

Z-weighting is going to be of more interest for the technical crowd. Just remember Z for Zero or unweighted. Or unmolested.

I don't see value in using A-weighting, unless a comparison is needed for legacy product/data. I know some still use it, which is fine as long as it's clearly stated as dB(A) but it can have an affect on the reported values (lower than Z, but never higher).

For reference, see how Z has minimal impact to the data compared to A, with C in between. The X-axis is log frequency. Y-axis is the weighting.

See how A whacks the levels down, below ~1000 Hz?

Noise geeks want the unmolested data, or unweighted with Z, if possible. Or the raw sound files which can be post processed with any weight applied.

View attachment 934784
All weightings are recorded when you actually record, how Form is using the mic only one can be highlighted at a time, currently that is A weighting and he likely isn’t recording just has the mic on… Z and C are being recorded but not highlighted, that’s how I have them set up… I use the mics hooked up to my computer and can see all when I pull the data from the mic when I record!
 
I remember reading that, now that you mention it. Did you guys ever figure out what was up with the cans that caused accuracy issues? Runout or hub mounts not being concentric?
I had some issues with an LTi that I never quite figured out, but did get fixed. Diligent took it back, said they "straightened it up a little", and it seems to work as intended now.
 
I had some issues with an LTi that I never quite figured out, but did get fixed. Diligent took it back, said they "straightened it up a little", and it seems to work as intended now.


Ryan had LTi issues as well. The conclusion is that DD is just inconsistent.
 
All weightings are recorded when you actually record, how Form is using the mic only one can be highlighted at a time, currently that is A weighting and he likely isn’t recording just has the mic on… Z and C are being recorded but not highlighted, that’s how I have them set up… I use the mics hooked up to my computer and can see all when I pull the data from the mic when I record!

That's great! Thanks for filling in the blanks.

So you have the raw recording files? Have you processed them to investigate the "tones" or sound quality that you're interested in and advertising?

If so, you might want to share that, against your competition, so people can see the difference to back up the claim.

Just a suggestion.
 
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