Vintage DBX 118 dynamic Range Enhancer with original box and manual
From a time capsule, with original box and manual.
The DBX 118 is a great versatile dynamic enhancer.
It is a single band linear expander, a linear compressor, a limiter and a peak unlimiter.
Notice the expansion/compression control. You can use it to set just the amount of dynamic range expansion you want. Where large level variations are undesirable, you can instead compress the entire dynamic range, bringing the quiet and loud portions of your music closer together.
Just to the left is a threshold control. When expanding, this can be used to set the point in your music’s dynamic range below which music becomes quieter, and above which it becomes louder. If you place the button on the far left in the out position, the 118 becomes an above-threshold expander, or peak unlimiter. This means only loud portions of the dynamic range which exceed your pre-set threshold will be expanded, (made louder).