recommendation of a sound level meter

The Radio Shack analog meter has a jack on the side for an external mike. When I owned a TACT RCS I used to put the TACT's mike on a tripod at ear level and plug the mike into the RS meter. It worked pretty well. For the "once in a while" casual hobbyist, the $50 or so for the RS meter and mods is likely sufficient. For a reviewer or serious hobbyist changing speakers regularly, it may pay to invest in better gear.

Spend spend spend. IVIE 33, so cool you need gloves to hold it.

Wow. That was helpful.

Here is a link to the The Audio Toolbox Plus, a handheld audio and acoustic lab.

http://terrasonde.newmediaone.net/02/default.htm

I will be checking out the IVIE33 at CEDIA. I've contacted them and they said they will give demonstrations there. It does look pretty interesting. I have examined the audio toolbox. We considered it as substitute for our test kits, but upgradability, flexibility, and being able to program our BARE software into it was pretty limited. However, for a basic one piece unit it's pretty powerful and as I recall much less expensive than the Sencore unit. The Sencore is great--well made, near bulletproof, and priced accordingly. The one thing I don't like about the Sencore and Toolbox is lack of resolution--sure you can zoom in on a graph, but that's not terribly convenient. This is one other reason we chose a laptop based system--but then again--you need a laptop, which is more to buy and more to carry.