Hi,
I realize your question was for Sean but I'd like to share my experience with you. At one time I had a moving magnet cartridge on my LP12 that gets a lot of good press here on Audiogon and which is a fine cartrige BUT it enhanced surface noise during low levels to an extent that really annoyed me. I was reluctant to put this new cartridge away and step up to a new moving coil. My local audio salon allowed me to audition the DBX line as well as another device that was much better and which I bought. Sorry, I have forgotten the name of it but will post it later in this thread when my sister, who I gave it to emails me with the name.
One problem with your posting is that you don't seem to take into account RIAA equalization which increases the bass and decreases the highs back to the correct levels of dynamic range.
Back to the device. It certainly made all the low level surface noise go away but it also reduced the low level musical nuances too. The increased dynamic range was enjoyed on some very compressed recordings but was unnatural with most.
As far as I'm concerned and based on my experience there is just as much dynamic range on lp's and sometimes more, much more as compared to CD's. The answer to your problem is a table that is good enough to allow a better tonearm and cartridge to transfer the signal properly. The wrong table will just accentuate noise and degrade the signal. Proper care of your records...washing, vacuum drying and polyethylene sleeves and a carbon fiber brush is all you need. Of course, a reasonably good phono stage is a must as well and it must be matched with whatever cartridge you are using.
To summarize I believe you would be taking a big step back which will solve only one of your problems and introduce others which will annoy you upon long term listening. If this wasn't the case then there would have been a huge demand for these cheap little used units you refer to. The analog purists figured this out long ago and considering myself to be among them I urge you to go in a better direction. Of course, what you propose is a pretty good short term solution for what I believe will be very little money. Your choice, and I certainly didn't want to beat up on you, but I clearly do not agree with your 30 db dynamic range accusations in the real world of listening.
I just remembered the name of the much better expander. It's a by RG. There is one on eBay guaranteed to be not DOA with bidding at $5. This is the top of the line model being a Pro and just blows away the DBX line.
For the record I've kept this thing in the family giving it to my mother to use with her B&O to great benefit until her death and my sister is now using it with her tv tuner as some television signals have a lot of low level noise. She loves it but it does surprise me that she can hear those low level whispers in movies. I used it for about six months and tired of it in about three electing to go with a nicer cartridge which solved my problems entirely.
I realize your question was for Sean but I'd like to share my experience with you. At one time I had a moving magnet cartridge on my LP12 that gets a lot of good press here on Audiogon and which is a fine cartrige BUT it enhanced surface noise during low levels to an extent that really annoyed me. I was reluctant to put this new cartridge away and step up to a new moving coil. My local audio salon allowed me to audition the DBX line as well as another device that was much better and which I bought. Sorry, I have forgotten the name of it but will post it later in this thread when my sister, who I gave it to emails me with the name.
One problem with your posting is that you don't seem to take into account RIAA equalization which increases the bass and decreases the highs back to the correct levels of dynamic range.
Back to the device. It certainly made all the low level surface noise go away but it also reduced the low level musical nuances too. The increased dynamic range was enjoyed on some very compressed recordings but was unnatural with most.
As far as I'm concerned and based on my experience there is just as much dynamic range on lp's and sometimes more, much more as compared to CD's. The answer to your problem is a table that is good enough to allow a better tonearm and cartridge to transfer the signal properly. The wrong table will just accentuate noise and degrade the signal. Proper care of your records...washing, vacuum drying and polyethylene sleeves and a carbon fiber brush is all you need. Of course, a reasonably good phono stage is a must as well and it must be matched with whatever cartridge you are using.
To summarize I believe you would be taking a big step back which will solve only one of your problems and introduce others which will annoy you upon long term listening. If this wasn't the case then there would have been a huge demand for these cheap little used units you refer to. The analog purists figured this out long ago and considering myself to be among them I urge you to go in a better direction. Of course, what you propose is a pretty good short term solution for what I believe will be very little money. Your choice, and I certainly didn't want to beat up on you, but I clearly do not agree with your 30 db dynamic range accusations in the real world of listening.
I just remembered the name of the much better expander. It's a by RG. There is one on eBay guaranteed to be not DOA with bidding at $5. This is the top of the line model being a Pro and just blows away the DBX line.
For the record I've kept this thing in the family giving it to my mother to use with her B&O to great benefit until her death and my sister is now using it with her tv tuner as some television signals have a lot of low level noise. She loves it but it does surprise me that she can hear those low level whispers in movies. I used it for about six months and tired of it in about three electing to go with a nicer cartridge which solved my problems entirely.