Douk Audio VU3 Dual Analog VU Meter, 2-Way Amplifier/Speaker Switch, Audio Switcher Box with DB Panel Display

Unit worked great out of the box. You need your own USB power adapter because none is provided. Pretty much any old USD power adapter you have lying around works. This device is beautiful eye candy for your stereo setup. Who doesn't like 2 lively VU meters dancing on the music? I love the dial where you can select the sensitivity of the meter, so that even at low volume your meters can be dancing wildly. Minor gripe is that no battery was included for the remote but luckily I had one lying around. I tried a CR2025 but it needs a CR2032 battery. Although the remote control is a smaller than credit card sized piece of cheap black plastic, it works great. There is no discernible impact on sound by putting this unit between your amplifier and your speakers. Perhaps a little bit more rolled off on the high frequencies but I might imagine that. This device is great for A/B testing of speakers and amplifiers. It is amazing how smoothly it switches between speakers and amps. I was totally expecting loud clicks and pauses in the music but it is completely smooth and pretty much unnoticeable. Quite amazing. Obviously you need (an) extra set(s) of speaker cables, depending on how many amps and speakers you want to connect. The unit is much smaller than you would expect from the pictures. Those pictures are doctored where the unit is enlarged and showed on top of regular sized 17" wide stereo equipment, looking like almost equal width. That's a nasty marketing ploy. Not cool! The actual unit is 7"x5"x3". If you scroll down deep enough into the small font area of the manufacturer's description they give you the actual measurements but the pictures are totally misleading. Nonetheless good build quality and everything works as advertised. It's a keeper!

Small footprint unit, about 7 inches wide, 4 inches deep and a little less than 3 inches tall including the feet. See the photos for the measurements. Banana plugs are best for rear connections. The spade connectors are difficult to tighten due to limited rear panel space and the inability to tighten the rear connectors securely enough to prevent loose connections with spade connectors. Setup is straight forward, it’s just a matter of running the wires for 2 sets of speakers (or amps) and making the connections. The remote is required to adjust the lighting on the VU meters. There is no On/OFF switch on the actual box, only on the remote itself. If you want On/Off capability on the box, Douk recommends that the user add a manual switch to the power cord. You can also plug and unplug the unit for on/off if you lose or damage the remote. I have been running this switch for months and I use it to A/B between a pair of Magico S1 and Zu Audio Soul 6 speakers. I know, it’s an unusual audio setup but with this Douk switch, I can really dial in my speakers based on the audio source. I cannot audibly detect any added noise or distortion from the Douk switch despite online reports of added distortion found during bench testing. From my experience, this switch works very well. It would be perfect with power on/off and VU meter light controls on the box but I still really like this unit. I have located a spare remote from the Douk website for $15 including shipping and it arrived faster than I expected. You will have to Google the Douk website and email them asking about a spare remote. I can’t include the URL/email here, Amazon won't let that occur. I suggested that Douk make a spare remote available on Amazon and they are considering that request. I found the folks at Douk very responsive and friendly! Otherwise, this was a great acquisition for my system, it greatly expands my audio system speaker capability and it’s well made. Hope that helps!

The connectors and power adapter all worked well. The speaker connectors ( binding posts) worked with bare wire, spade connectors and banana plugs. 12 gauge wire is the maximum for bare wire as far as I can fit. The sound isn’t affected much, if any, by passing through the unit. The remote woks fine including the panel dimmer. In my system, changing amps is silent with no click. In my system, I’m using separate components. A preamplifier feeding two power amplifiers. This unit allows me to switch from one power amp to the other BUT, there is no way to compensate for difference in gain between the two, so one is 3-4 db louder. For the purpose of comparing two power amps this switching device won’t work for me because the louder amp tends win the comparison. It’s still useful for switching amps, but not for listening comparisons. As an aside, the manual for one of my amps states never to leave it on without a speaker or load attached. Thankfully, this switch unit DOES provide a dummy load to protect amps like mine from damage. As mentioned above, my only disappointment is no way of matching the volume between two amps. This isn’t a problem if you’re running a receiver or integrated amp which have their own volume adjustment. Power amplifiers typically do not have volume controls. Perhaps in version 2?

This and the LC30 from a competitor are similar. But not only is this unit only 2/3 the price, the meters are more responsive, have Peak LED's (switchable) and it passes the audio through when powered off. So, it need not be on if you don't always want the entertainment or need the switching. Also the included remote uses two AAA batteries, not the CR2025 coin-size batteries of the previous generation.

muy bueno para quien tiene dos pares de bocinas y quiere cambiar entre ellas sin pérdida de sonido. lo mismo con dos amplificadores, ideal para pruebas A-B

The Unit is overall good, looks good, there is a peak indicator LED which i felt was not required, the other draw back is the the swing indicatore needs to be adjusted every time you increase the volume. The cost of the unit is on the higher side could have been lower.

良かったです。音もよくなった感じがした。(笑)

真空管ミニアンプ2台とスピーカー1台に使用 アンプの切替がリモコン1つで楽に切替わり アンプの音の違いが好みによって楽しめます。メーターの視覚的効果も楽しめます。

I love music. I also love colourful lights. This product adds a cute, compact retro vibe to your existing stereo. The VU meters have a pleasant glow, and the red needles move hypnotically as the signal strength changes from your stereo input. Hooking up the box was straightforward, you can use either the wire-on-post or banana plug system. It uses a low wattage USB power supply, which plugs in simply to your amp (if it has a bonus AC out) or to the wall. You have to supply your own USB wall brick, but hey -- we've got all drawers full of them. The VU box itself doesn't seem to make any difference to the sound quality, although purists may disagree. I'm a middle-aged dude with tinnitus so I'm not too picky. The only issue I have with the VU box is the sensitivity dial. Don't get me wrong, it works great. But you have to adjust the dial depending on the volume or sensitivity of your signal input -- or the needles don't dance around properly. Loud CD? Needles will slam. Quiet vinyl? Needles won't move. It would be nice if this had some kind of auto-attenuation feature for the input signal, but hey for less than $100 it's pretty cool.