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Vintage Asylum Classic gear from yesteryear; vintage audio standing the test of time. |
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In Reply to: Re: Pardon the dumb question but what does a DBX expander do? posted by shermanr@prw.net on April 9, 2007 at 16:45:53:
Yes, that's what it does, more or less. Before recroding, the dynamic range of the signal is reduced (compressed) by a nonlinear amplifier. That makes the quietest signal louder and the loudest signal quieter. That keeps the signal further away from the noise floor and further away from saturation.On playback, the signal is expanded by another nonlinear amp with a characteristic complementary to the compression amp's characteristic. That's where the term "compander" comes from -- COMpress/exPANDER.
One drawback is that any distortion that occurs between compression and expansion by the tape electronics, the tape, anything in the LP chain, etc., is multiplied by the expander. So you get more dynamic range at the expense of some added distortion.
Another problem is that as the quietest passages change loudness, the noise floor "pumps" noticably and annoyingly.
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- The down side... - lipmanl 06:25:51 04/10/07 (0)
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