Do you mean something like a DBX unit that were "popular" in the early '80's?
IMO they were unacceptable, and "expanded" dynamic range by making quiet passages quieter...by clamping them down to nothing. Not always a bad thing for noisy cassette tapes, and LPs, but they also had the side effect of essentially deleting fine detail in recordings. It really depended where one set the thresholds on those things in order to achieve some semblance of a correct sound. "Pumping and Wheezing" were other audible artifacts of dynamic range expanders. In broadcast, they are used in conjunction with dynamic range compressors to form a "compander". Once again, very threshold dependent (and at the radio station I worked at, you'd get canned if you even touched it). There, the function was to COMPRESS signals above a certain threshold, and EXPAND signals below that. It made the announcer and the music seem louder, but below some threshold had the effect of squashing noises in the studio. A squeaking chair, a buzzing fly...all would sound horrible without the "expander" mashing them down to nothing. In a home audio system? I would say NO. My $0.02. (In my early years...we liked all the flashing lights in our dorm rooms. That's all they were good for) -- Curt962 Transporter...Touch....Boom...... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Curt962's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=31949 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86903 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
