dbx 142
Little is documented about the dbx 142. Here is what the record shows. It was a noise reduction system aimed at the broadcast market, introduced around 1977 as part of dbx's expanding professional and semiprofessional line. A brief mention in Modern Recording (February 1977, p.28) listed the 142 among new dbx products "for broadcast use," alongside the model 194 combination noise reducer and five-channel unit. That listing gives nothing else. No price, no specs, no chassis description.
A year later, DB Magazine (December 1978, p.19) described dbx's broadcast noise reduction approach in general terms - 30 dB noise reduction and 10 dB headroom improvement. The article's teardown focused on the newer eight-channel dbx 148, not the 142. The 142 may have been a simpler, earlier or lower-channel-count sibling, but the sources never confirm that directly. Surviving documentation is thin. The 142 appears to have been a modest and short-lived entry in dbx's professional catalog, likely superseded by the modular 148 and 158 systems that followed.
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