Peak meter

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Two different styles of meters: a set of VU meters from a Nakamichi cassette deck, and a set of digital peak meters from a Harman Kardon cassette deck.

A peak meter is a type of measuring instrument that visually indicates the instantaneous level of an audio signal that is passing through it (a sound level meter). In sound reproduction, the meter, whether peak or not, is usually meant to correspond to the perceived loudness of a particular signal. The term peak is used to denote the meter's ability, regardless of the type of visual display, to indicate the highest output level at any instant.

A peak-reading electrical instrument or meter is one which measures the peak value of a waveform, rather than its mean value or RMS value.

As an example, when making audio recordings it is desirable to use a recording level that is just sufficient to reach the maximum capability of the recorder at the loudest sounds, regardless of the average sound level. A peak-reading meter is typically used to set the recording level.^[1]