Dbx lps

Nautilus issued of a number of titles that were half speed masters that were dbx encoded (Allmans at the Fillmore, Moodys Threshold, Clapton One Night, Heart S/T to name a few). You do need to play them with the decoder. You can still find them here on Audiogon and on ebay. Based on the prices they are going for, the non encoded versions are selling for more than the encoded version. Is that because people don't have or don't want to get a decoder or because the encoded versions don't sound as good? I spoke to one guy who deals in high end LPs and has a decoder and he told me he prefers the sound of the non encoded half speed master of the same title.

I have a number of those. Without a decoder, they sound thin and uninteresting.

Dbx ever make a encode~decode unit 4 playing reg lps that could benefit from nr?

I have a Decoder, send an email if anyone is interested in it.

06-12-09: Phasecorrect
Dbx ever make a encode~decode unit 4 playing reg lps that could benefit from nr?

I sold audio when these came out. The dbx LP system was a fixed compression/expansion scheme; I think it was 2:1 compression and then 1:2 expansion. At the store (1975) we got a demo LP and hooked it up. Before the music started there was dead silence at the speakers and we thought we had a disconnect. Then the music came out and it was really lifelike and dynamic.

I always did feel like CDs were unnecessary; if the industry had taken the same care to master and press LPs, especially if the standard had moved on to dbx, we would have solved the noise floor/dynamic range problem without going to a completely new playback system. dbx would have simply required an outboard decoder to switch in for dbx LPs.

At that same store, we often used an adjustable dbx Compander set to 1.4:1 expansion to add dynamics to compressed-sounding LPs.

However did dbx make a unit for non dbx lps?

The DBX encoding scheme for LPs provided superb performance and comparable in every way to CDs. DBX, unlike Dolby, refused to license hardware manufacturers to use its patents. Dolby (in the cassette tape field) encouraged hardware manufacturers with a low fee, and even funded development of chips to make it easy. As a result Dolby got rich on software, and DBX encoding for LPs failed.

While noise reduction is the most obvious benefit of DBX encoding, it also means that the phono cartridge is always operating near its optimum signal level, and this greatly reduces distortion, and completely avoids any mistracking on transients. It also increased playing time/side.

You can play the LPs, but you wouldn't want to listen to them.