DBX NX-40 Decoder Set Up

[pderousse]

I recently received a record from Discogs and it had a sticker on the sleve: "Use only with a Dbx Disc Decoder." I had no idea what the heck that was about, so I naturally cued it up on my turntable (Rega Planar 3 / exact ii), and oh wow was it awful, like my system had been transformed into my grandfather's wind up Victrola playing 78s from a steel needle. Apparently the decoders work by compressing a recording 2:1, then decompressing the signal such that the noise floor has been lowered substantially (no pops at all) and the dynamic range increased 30%. People who have them rave about their recordings and Discogs has an area devoted to the several dozen albums that seem to exist: https://www.discogs.com/search/?q=dbx+encoded&type=all) . When I found a DBX NX-40 on ebay for $25, I thought it was worth an experiment. I normally run the turntable directly into the phono input of a McIntosh C49, so I thought I could run the signal from two spare RCA outputs to the NX-40 input labled "From RCVR Tape Output" and then from the its output labled "To RCVR Tape Input" another two cables to spare RCA inputs on the preamp. This seems to be what the instructions require to play a "disc" (by which is meant a record); however, turn the unit on, push "DBX disc decoder," and - no sound. Does anyone have any expereince with these decoders and the basic wiring set up? I can't tell whether I have a bad unit or I've somehow set it up wrong.

 

[pderousse]