bare in mind the current vu meter objects, only look at the first sample
from a UI perspective, i think you should be asking yourself, what is it i want to know? then find a way to represent it, with whats available.
to me it sounds like you want to know, when you are approaching and exceeding certain thresholds, so do the maths to work that out, then a simple UI object can be used to show just that.
(still sounds to me like you need something based on rms/peak, perhaps then put into a bar or toggles that show the 'sensitive' area)
but of course, this could just be me being practical i.e. using what we have, as there is not going to be a bigger vu-meter in the next few weeks, so what your best solution with what we have? 