Spectrum analyzer rental in Canada

[Crowbar]

I need to rent an audio frequency spectrum analyzer that resolve to -110 dB. I'm having trouble finding rentals for such things in Canada. Buying one is out of the question, as I don't have $10K+ to spare (maybe after I pay my $60K student loans and $15K credit cards).

[nikongod]

is a computer sound-card based solution out of the question?

[Crowbar]

I've never seen one with a good enough preamp and ADC section.

[chillysalsa]

Maybe something like this would work:

Audio Oscilloscope, Spectrum Analyzer, Signal Generator - eBay (item 110248843429 end time May-11-08 06:03:20 PDT)

I'm not sure what it uses for the ADC... a sound card? The screenshot from the Spectrum Analyzer shows -130 db... Maybe if you have a 24bit soundcard that's how you would get that kind of resolution.

[kklee]

In another life when I used to fix arcade video games, the shop I worked at used to rent equipment from electrorent.

[Crowbar]

They have a lot of equipment, but all the spectrum analyzers are designed for high frequency usage. At audio frequencies, the intrinsic distortion is pretty bad. I'm not seeing anything below -90 dB.

[Alcaudon]

And.... what about a digital storage oscillloscope??? I don't know if this will be good enough for your application, but you could capture the waveform, load the data into matlab, and make the FFT. I have a 300USD Oscilloscope and this works for me, but I make it just for play and fun, nothing serious

[Crowbar]

Well I guess I could even do that with a sound card if I had a really, really good ADC. But I don't know of any.