dbx 20/20 Computerized Equalizer/Analyzer
A rack-mounted box that promised to voice a room in ten seconds, and, by the math of its own era, cost less than the four separate instruments it replaced.
Overview
The 20/20 sounds like a fantasy until you read the period coverage. It is a single rack instrument that combines an octave graphic equalizer, a real-time analyzer, a pink-noise generator, and a dB/SPL meter in one chassis. It also comes with a calibrated measurement microphone so the whole thing can actually be used. Modern Recording (June 1981, p.62) described it that way in its general description - four tools that normally lived in four separate boxes, consolidated into one computerized unit.
The front panel is not a toy. According to Modern Recording (June 1981, p.63), the memory bank runs switches numbered 1 through 10 - ten curves that can be stored and recalled, each with its own LED indicator. There are also "set flat" and "enter memory" switches, the spectrum display, and a row of display-mode buttons. The ten boost/cut controls cover octave-spaced bands from 31.5 Hz to 16 kHz. You can recall a curve, defeat it flat, or punch in a new one, all without leaving the rack.
The pitch, though, was automation. dbx positioned the 20/20 at retailers rather than only end users when it debuted at CES. The company's own spokesman framed the design philosophy around pragmatism rather than dogma - analog or digital, whichever served the job. The headline claim, as reported by High Fidelity Trade News (September 1980, p.127), was that proper equalization could be accomplished automatically in about ten seconds instead of a day's work. That "day" shows who it was aimed at: people who had spent real hours with a real-time analyzer, a mic, and a graphic EQ chasing room modes by hand.
The economics were the argument. Modern Recording (June 1981, p.65) conceded that judged purely as an equalizer the 20/20 is quite expensive. It then pointed out that a good real-time analyzer, a precision 10-band equalizer, a calibrated microphone, and a pink-noise generator bought separately add up to more than the 20/20 costs.
Physically it is a 19-inch rack unit. Modern Recording (June 1981, p.63) notes the front panel is fitted with slotted flanges dimensioned for standard 19-inch rack-mounting, and the same review (p.64) gives the width as 19 inches with a 5¼-inch panel height. A front-panel mic jack overrides a rear-panel jack, and either one accepts the supplied microphone.
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