recommendation of a sound level meter

Sean...Yes, analog (sorry analogue) meters can be guesstimated to fractional division resolution. When I was in college I had a professor who could read ten decimal places off a 4-inch circular slide rule that he kept in his shirt pocket. The 1 dB quantization of the digital meter represents "within 0.5dB" with no guesswork (or eyesight) required.

Fair enough...you take your boat. I'll hop on the jet. :) Ed

Edle, or anyone...Why not the digital version of the meter?
Except for the readout device (DVM vs Analog voltmeter) it's the same instrument. The digital unit has a bargraph display as well as the numeric readout, so it is easier to read in every way. For example, when balancing speakers of a multichannel system, it's a lot easier to remember "87" as the test tone moves from speaker to speaker, than to remember where the needle ended up. The price difference was $10, so I presume that is not the reason to recommend the analog version. Do we have another case of digiphobia here?

sean...The RS meter digital resolution is one dB which is probably better than you can read with a needle. As I mentioned, the digital display includes a bargraph display which shows dynamics, and is (IMHO) easier to follow than a needle.