ETF does not have a manual. We have a series of short documents to guide the new user through the process of taking & interpreting measurements. We suggest reading the following in the order as listed below. This results in a minimum of reading and a chance to get ETF running and taking measurements as quickly as possible.

(1) Getting Started: In Help Files. Test your sound card for accurate and precise measurement taking as well as for the ETF sample rate setting.

(2) Demo Room: On web site. This shows a project with measurements and diagrams. There are important practical lessons to be learned with this project example. This document discusses an actual project to illustrate various practical points in taking measurements with ETF software as well as subwoofer placement.

(3) Help Files: Context sensitive. Open a new measurement such as Impulse Response and click help. A detailed description of measurement type (impulse response in this case) appears with example measurements and explanations.

Please note. You should not have to and should not increase SPL above 85 dB SPL during the measurement taking and room evaluation using ETF software. Use the RS SPL meter to monitor this SPL for hearing safety, particularly with MLS tests. Most small capacitive intrument quality microphones such as our calibrated microphone go into distortion at levels slightly above 90 dB SPL.

If only low frequencies are to be measured, we recommend the Radio Shack SPL meter. This unit is very flat - much more so than you will be able to fix your room. It is therefore quite accurate for its intended purpose. We supply a low frequency calibration file for this unit on our support page on the web site under "Support". In this case, get a camera stand from a photography store that will allow the mic to be mounted. This stand may be expensive and the option below may be more desireable in terms of total cost and performance. This microphone should be used at levels below 95 dB for distortion measurements if the distortion performance upgrade is used. Distortion measurements should be made with a good high SPL musical instrument microphone when higher SPL's are to be used.

If you require accuracy at high frequencies or wish to set an equalizer, a calibrated microphone is be required for frequency response accuracy. These microphones have matching calibration files that enable the software to compensate for the response of the microphone. Each individual mic is calibrated and is accompanied by response information on a disc. The calibrated microphone is available for $250.00 USD. Air (Fed Ex) Delivery is free for this unit almost anywhere in the world. Mic stands for these units are normally very low cost and can be purchased at a local musical instrument stores. The specifications are on a link at the index.html.

The cables and connections necessary for ETF to be used in taking measurements are outlined in the help files. The following electrical connections are necessary:

(a) Connection between Left output and left input (line in level in/out)

(b) Connection from Right output of sound card to the left/right input of an audio system. A "Y" jack may be used along with this to connect both Left and Right stereo inputs to the test signal. Control of left or right emphasis is left to the balance control.

(c) Connection of mic /preamp to the right sound card input and the connection between the microphone and its preamplifier.

Failure to set the mixer correctly is the number one reason for ETF not working on a PC. To help the situation, we have programmed our own custom mixer that examines your sound card capabilities and centers irrelevant controls such as Balance, Tone, Bass, Treble, and EQ's. These cannot be seen on the mixer control but are automatically set. All volumes are reduced to zero on all inputs & outputs as well as automatically shut off or muted.

The ETF Automatic mixer shows how each control in the mixer was automatically set using ETF relevant controls that are shown. These controls should be muted, turned off or reduced to zero in level when the mixer is first used. These inputs and outputs are the only ones that should be turned on, enabled, unmuted or output adjusted. This must be done by the user.

All of what the ETF automatic mixer does is visible on the windows default mixer. You can run the default mixer from the ETF mixer, adjust controls from the ETF mixer and see the corresponding control change in the standard windows mixer. Its important to remember that the Windows default mixer really consists of two mixers, one for play (output) and one for recording (input). Each controls the respective half of the sound card. Go to Options -> Properties in the default mixer to change the controls shown from rec to play to set both input and output levels. The ETF automatic mixer controls both the record and play connections on your sound card from the one window.

Each sound card is different. The ETF mixer attempts to configure itself to your sound card and get all the settings correct. Not all sound cards will work with this mixer, particularly one with unanticipitated or unusual controls in its mixer driver. This can be true of of some high end sound cards. In this case, use the Windows Default mixer, which can be accessed from the ETF mixer.

If for some reason ETF will not work on your computer and you have followed the steps in Getting Started, contact us with the following information so that we can diagnose your problem:

(1) Have your PC showing the mixer settings on the monitor.

(2) Run a standard paint program such as MS Paint and minimize it on the task bar.

(3) Do a screen grab by pressing "PrtScn" on your keyboard. This is usually in the upper right hand row on North American keyboards.

(4) This step has loaded the contents of the screen into the same memory buffer that is used for editing text. Click on the Paint program used earlier and go to Edit -> Paste.

(5) The picture of the computer screen now appears as a picture in the paint program. This can be confusing at first.

(6) Edit the relative portion of the window that you want me to see if necessary / desired. This step is not necessary.

(7) Go to Copy in the paint program and paste it to a Wordpad or Note pad document. Please do not email compressed images.

(8) Save and email that file to doug@etfacoustic.com .

Thank you for purchasing ETF software.