Hi Cork,
Hmmm, that's a bit odd, but today's electronics are so complex that occasional shut-downs and re-sets do occur and normally shouldn't be cause to worry. I have a six-year-old hi-def Samsung DLP that sometimes just turns itself off arbitrarily. If it happens more frequently, I pull the AC plug, let it "rest" for a while, then it re-sets and works perfectly for many months.
To its credit, my aging hk AV receiver has never needed to be reset.
My boat GPS also re-boots itself sometimes, or gets "stuck" and becomes unresponsive, in which case I click a re-set button.
My Scientific Atlanta HD cable box/DVR also seems to need a re-boot every month or so to keep it responsive.
Your cheapo SPL meter looks OK to me. It's likely as accurate as the cheapo Radio Shack model. Maybe you'll run into a fellow audiophile who owns the Radio Shack meter and you can compare readings (I love comparisons. . .).
Regards,
Alan
