dbx MODEL-110
There is a real, documented Spectra Sonics Model 110 amplifier and a real, documented Auditronics Model 110 console — but nothing in the record ties either one to dbx.
Overview
This entry exists to say plainly what the research does and does not support. The dbx MODEL-110, as catalogued here, has no verified identity. No source material was supplied in the research pass, and every category in the fact sheet — product name variants, manufacturer confirmation, product type, production years, price, specifications, design details, history, family position, reviews, market prices, repair notes — came back empty. Collectors searching for a dbx unit under this designation will not find one documented in the sources behind this archive.
What the source documents do contain is a naming collision worth untangling, because it is the most likely explanation for why "dbx MODEL-110" appears in a search at all. The PDF excerpts attributed to this model name three entirely different products, none of them dbx. The first is the Spectra Sonics Model 110, an improved version of that firm's Model 101 audio amplifier, a solid-state card measuring 2¼" x 5" x ½" and priced at $72.00, built for bi-polar (±24 VDC) power and rated for +24 dBm output. The second is the Auditronics Model 110 "Grandson," a modular professional recording, remixing, and on-air console designed to accommodate up to 16-track work and expandable to 18 mixing positions and 36 inputs in a 36-inch width. The third is the Helpinstill Model 110 Piano Sensor, a pickup system for grand and upright pianos listing at $325. None of these is a dbx product, and none should be filed under the dbx name.
That distinction matters more than it might seem. dbx built its reputation on noise reduction and signal processing — compressors, expanders, the semipro rack gear that studios and home recordists relied on. A reader who lands on a "dbx MODEL-110" page expecting a compressor or an encoder/decoder is owed the honest answer: the archive has no documentation of any such unit. The period literature that surfaces under this model number belongs to other manufacturers entirely, and attributing any of those specs to dbx would be a fabrication.
The one genuinely period dbx item in the review chunks is a different animal altogether: the modular, rackmounted dbx Model 158, which High Fidelity (November 1977, p.44) described as offering eight channels of noise reduction for semiprofessional or small-studio work, with separate record and playback electronics in each module and a price of $2,400 through dbx professional audio dealers. That is a documented dbx product with a documented price and a documented review — and it is not the Model 110. It is included here only to show what a properly sourced dbx entry looks like, and to keep the record straight.
Until real documentation — a service manual, an owner's manual, a catalog page, or a period review that explicitly names a dbx Model 110 — turns up, this page will not carry specifications, history, or market commentary. Inventing them would be worse than leaving the entry thin. Owners and collectors who believe they have a dbx Model 110 in hand are encouraged to check the model badge carefully: the number 110 shows up across several manufacturers' lines, and a misread label is the likeliest source of the confusion. If documentation surfaces, this entry will be rebuilt from it.
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