DBX Dynamic Range Expander

[HIFI]

Way before CD players ... showing my age ... there was just vinyl and tape.  In those early years of HiFi I was following a different path in Two Channel audio.  Sound reinforcement in my living room was the hobby fun.  I was using two pairs of ESS Rock Monitors stacked and SAE power amps.  I ran a DBX dynamic range expander between pre amp and power amps.  It was glorious for my application.  

 

Anyway, I still use the DBX today for several rock vinyls I still own.

 

Is any one else holding on to a nice DBX and if you have a 4BX you don’t use I can use it.

[esldude]

I once had the 3bx version. 

 

I wonder how useful it might be today.  I also had another similar unit made by Pioneer.  The DBX was better, but I really didn't use it much.  I'd think software dynamic range expansion would be better.  Then again, if you don't know the settings of the compressor in use you have little chance of making it sound really right. 

[JediJoker]

Were these units mainly for decoding dbx Discs?

[gmgraves]

1 hour ago, esldude said:

I once had the 3bx version. 

 

I wonder how useful it might be today.  I also had another similar unit made by Pioneer.  The DBX was better, but I really didn't use it much.  I'd think software dynamic range expansion would be better.  Then again, if you don't know the settings of the compressor in use you have little chance of making it sound really right. 

Every one that I have tried audibly “pumped”. For my purposes that made them essentially useless. At least the Dolby ‘A’ unit I used back in my analog days didn’t do that!

[lucretius]

I had one of these:

 

 

 

Found it totally useless.

 

[CatManDo]

 

10 hours ago, JediJoker said:

Were these units mainly for decoding dbx Discs?

 

dbx decoders were actually a different range of products of the dbx brand.

 

The dbx dynamic range expanders were meant to be used with any signal, without previous dbx encoding.

[gmgraves]

48 minutes ago, CatManDo said:

 

 

dbx decoders were actually a different range of products of the dbx brand.

 

The dbx dynamic range expanders were meant to be used with any signal, without previous dbx encoding.

The ones I tried were “round-trip” companders. No matter how carefully one would match the levels, using a 400 Hz tone, they all still audibly pumped! I even tried playing with changing the time constants by swapping-out the attack and release capacitor and resistor values on one model. No joy. Pretty useless for recording in my opinion.

[StephenJK]

I went through that whole DBX thing with a number of different compressor/expanders.  I never thought much of them, it seemed to be more of an effect than anything else.  I did own a DBX 202/20 computerized equalizer/analyzer for many years - that was an interesting gizmo that I don't miss in the least.

 

I suppose the recording of Katy Lied by Steely Dan would be the more infamous tale from the DBX days, where the latest and greatest noise reduction studio gear essentially made the original master tapes unusable.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katy_Lied

 

I do still have a DBX 21 decoder and a number of DBX records, 15 in total!  They're all recorded digitally, but you never know when you might want to play them again.  

[HIFI]

DBX Dynamic Range Expanders were looked down upon by the true audiophile world.  They did pump .  .  . especially noticeable if your settings were close to or maxed out for full expansion.  While I still own and operate one I am very judicious how I use.  First off it has no value with much of the highly compressed music produced today.  It’s seams funny I would say that but you really need some decent dynamic range before the DBX Range expansion can offer any benefit.  It also has no use if your software has good dynamic range to begin with.  Where I found it most useful was listening to rock music, on vinyl, at rock concert volumes.  Back in the day we stacked speakers, stacked amplifiers, used Analog Parametric EQ,s and kept the equipment and Thorens turntable in another room.  

 

Every once in a while I put on some import vinyl of The Clash or Ramones or like music and re-live the old days through my DBX.

 

 

[HIFI]

DBX 1BX really pumped.  3BX was much better.  I have never heard the 5BX.