This popular component restores the punch & dynamic range thats lost due to heavy compression & limiting to phono signals, tape recordings & even radio broadcast.
Everybody knows that dbx builds state-of-the-art signal processing equipment, however, the 3BX is not for everyone.
If you're an audiophile with a large collection of vinyl, this is for you.
This unit gently expands the dynamic range, or ratio of loud to soft, in a recording from 1.0 to 1.5 without audible artifacts of digital sound processing.
It also has Impact Restoration of instrument attacks that is lost mostly in live performances.
Another great feature called Ambience will give you back the desired soundstage,making the old recordings sound more stereophonic,also the grass will be much greaner and the sky will be much more blue than before.
Linear dB Expansion
Once the signal has been detected,the expander knows when to increase or decrease it's level.The circuit that actually performs this change is called VCA "voltage control amplifier".While some expanders may increase or decrease the program level by a fixed amount,DBX-3BX dynamic expander increases or decreases the program on a linear decibel basis.This means that output dinamic range and the input dynamic range are linearly related by the "expansion ratio" over the entire dynamic range for a smooth natural sound without artefacts or breathing.
Devices such as "noise gates","correlators" and "horizontal filters" may be able to substract noise from certain types of programs,but they do not significantly improve the dynamic range of program in any other way.In addition,such devices may be misled by certain types of music,causing undesirable changes in sound, or they may change the frequency response of the program,or even remove parts of the music.
The DBX 3BX dynamic expander represents a new state of the art in expansion.With it's linear dB expansion,RMS detection,VCA (Voltage Controlled Amplifier) and program-controlled attack and release rates,it avoids the midrange coloration of pre-emphasized units and the "noise modulation" of the units dividing the audio spectrum in many bands.It does not substract any frequency component from the music,instead it reduces it's gain during quiet passages and increasing it's gain during loud passages,achieving 35 dB or more of natural sound expansion.
You can almost never have too much dynamic range in your audio! This does an amazing job bringing life back to old recordings, records & tapes, etc. Or even radio broadcasts and CD's from old tape masters.
Makes even a mediocre audio system sound like twice the price.
This one is three bands, High, Middle, Low, with a control for the amount of expansion/compression,for the transition level,for impact restoration (used for live recordings) and for amibence (it can enlarge the soundstage so the stereophonic image becomes wider).
This is what makes it so powerful. if you have a noise floor on a recording, you can adjust the transition level to just the right point where the music is expanded and the noise is not,so this way it behaves just like a powerfull dynamic noise reduction without the well known breathing effect caused by time constant and transitions.
The 3BX III does not have any AD or DA conversion,it's pure analog and it's the best and last dbx product made in the early 90's,just by the time when Audio CD started to become so popular,bringing the much desired CD Dynamics even to old analog recordings,this way making possible to have the best of both worlds!
This coloured knob is the last and best model dbx made before going to digital processing (DS series) and that's why it's the model I use in my personal highend audio system. I don't know how most music lovers put up with the compression record companies have applied to nearly all LP and CD recordings for over half a century. I know why they compressed LP's. It's because LP's have a useful dynamic range limit of 55-60db depending on the quality of the vinyl, while many Jazz, Rock, and orchestral performances have 80-100db of dynamic range. Obviously, something had to be done to fit the performance onto the record. One of the reasons the CD was invented was to widen the available dynamic range so CD's have 100db of dynamic range available. (SACD's have 120 db!)
However, the record companies rarely take advantage of the greater dynamic range capability of the CD or even SACD, and usually deliver performances compressed as though it had fit on an LP! Though the early machines used a single processor causing "pumping" in some recordings due to interaction of bass notes which could modulate the mids and highs, the move to separate processors for lows, mids, and highs in the 3BX and later instruments made these essential devices for those of us who take our listening seriously. In fact, when I want a CD to listen to outside my music room, I take the original CD (or LP) process it with my 3BX and burn an expanded CD to use elsewhere.
Try it, especially on your favorite recordings from the '50's - '80's and you'll hear performances much truer to the the actual performance than the compressed recordings sold to the public
110-220V, made in Japan
price asked : 350 Euros
location : EU
Everybody knows that dbx builds state-of-the-art signal processing equipment, however, the 3BX is not for everyone.
If you're an audiophile with a large collection of vinyl, this is for you.
This unit gently expands the dynamic range, or ratio of loud to soft, in a recording from 1.0 to 1.5 without audible artifacts of digital sound processing.
It also has Impact Restoration of instrument attacks that is lost mostly in live performances.
Another great feature called Ambience will give you back the desired soundstage,making the old recordings sound more stereophonic,also the grass will be much greaner and the sky will be much more blue than before.
Linear dB Expansion
Once the signal has been detected,the expander knows when to increase or decrease it's level.The circuit that actually performs this change is called VCA "voltage control amplifier".While some expanders may increase or decrease the program level by a fixed amount,DBX-3BX dynamic expander increases or decreases the program on a linear decibel basis.This means that output dinamic range and the input dynamic range are linearly related by the "expansion ratio" over the entire dynamic range for a smooth natural sound without artefacts or breathing.
Devices such as "noise gates","correlators" and "horizontal filters" may be able to substract noise from certain types of programs,but they do not significantly improve the dynamic range of program in any other way.In addition,such devices may be misled by certain types of music,causing undesirable changes in sound, or they may change the frequency response of the program,or even remove parts of the music.
The DBX 3BX dynamic expander represents a new state of the art in expansion.With it's linear dB expansion,RMS detection,VCA (Voltage Controlled Amplifier) and program-controlled attack and release rates,it avoids the midrange coloration of pre-emphasized units and the "noise modulation" of the units dividing the audio spectrum in many bands.It does not substract any frequency component from the music,instead it reduces it's gain during quiet passages and increasing it's gain during loud passages,achieving 35 dB or more of natural sound expansion.
You can almost never have too much dynamic range in your audio! This does an amazing job bringing life back to old recordings, records & tapes, etc. Or even radio broadcasts and CD's from old tape masters.
Makes even a mediocre audio system sound like twice the price.
This one is three bands, High, Middle, Low, with a control for the amount of expansion/compression,for the transition level,for impact restoration (used for live recordings) and for amibence (it can enlarge the soundstage so the stereophonic image becomes wider).
This is what makes it so powerful. if you have a noise floor on a recording, you can adjust the transition level to just the right point where the music is expanded and the noise is not,so this way it behaves just like a powerfull dynamic noise reduction without the well known breathing effect caused by time constant and transitions.
The 3BX III does not have any AD or DA conversion,it's pure analog and it's the best and last dbx product made in the early 90's,just by the time when Audio CD started to become so popular,bringing the much desired CD Dynamics even to old analog recordings,this way making possible to have the best of both worlds!
This coloured knob is the last and best model dbx made before going to digital processing (DS series) and that's why it's the model I use in my personal highend audio system. I don't know how most music lovers put up with the compression record companies have applied to nearly all LP and CD recordings for over half a century. I know why they compressed LP's. It's because LP's have a useful dynamic range limit of 55-60db depending on the quality of the vinyl, while many Jazz, Rock, and orchestral performances have 80-100db of dynamic range. Obviously, something had to be done to fit the performance onto the record. One of the reasons the CD was invented was to widen the available dynamic range so CD's have 100db of dynamic range available. (SACD's have 120 db!)
However, the record companies rarely take advantage of the greater dynamic range capability of the CD or even SACD, and usually deliver performances compressed as though it had fit on an LP! Though the early machines used a single processor causing "pumping" in some recordings due to interaction of bass notes which could modulate the mids and highs, the move to separate processors for lows, mids, and highs in the 3BX and later instruments made these essential devices for those of us who take our listening seriously. In fact, when I want a CD to listen to outside my music room, I take the original CD (or LP) process it with my 3BX and burn an expanded CD to use elsewhere.
Try it, especially on your favorite recordings from the '50's - '80's and you'll hear performances much truer to the the actual performance than the compressed recordings sold to the public
110-220V, made in Japan
price asked : 350 Euros
location : EU
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An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
