• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

dbx BX-3 Amplifier and Pioneer Elite Curiosity

Jeepnmon

Jeepnmon

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
I've owned a couple of dbx BX-3 amplifiers since the early 90's and thought I knew all there was to know about them and then I ran across an ad on Canuck Audio Mart where the owner states that the dbx BX-3 amplifiers were manufactured by Pioneer Elite. I never knew that nor can I find anything online that indicates this. So I emailed the seller and asked how he had learned this and he replied that "Mike @ MM electronics with over 40 years experience confirmed it long ago". Can anyone confirm that these were actually made by Pioneer Elite? Anyone know who "Mike" is/was?

Here's the ad title: FOR SALE: 1989 DBX ( Pioneer ELITE ) BX-3 Power Amp & CX-3 Pre Amplifier

Ad text: "Units are actually manufactured by Pioneer Elite".


 
Register to hide this ad
That doesn't sound right at all. dbx was a Massachusettes shop that had nothing to do with Pioneer. If dbx had anything working with them it may have been for transformers or a custom IC, but "built by Pioneer Elite"? No. Not when they had their own assembly shop.

The only Mike associated with dbx was Mike Kelley, who was the top guy there before the Harman International takeover. The right person to ask about this stuff would be AK'er David Moran, but he hasn't been around here for almost a year. PM him and see if he can get you the details. He's a very helpful and interesting person to have involved in a dbx discussion, since he worked for them. I believe he did their user and service documentation but I could be mixing him up with someone else.
 
the dbx BX3 I had wasn't a power amplifier but a dynamic range expander, do you have any pictures of said unit?

never mind, apparently some dyslexia on my part, the range expander is the dbx 3BX

2XlxMFd__29793.1586276325.jpg
 
Grenadeslio said:
the dbx BX3 I had wasn't a power amplifier but a dynamic range expander, do you have any pictures of said unit.
Click to expand...

I think that dynamic range expander was a 3BX. Hers's a pic of the BX-3 Power Amplifier.

C8F704CB-A2D1-4806-8413-D39C4332E29F.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20210205-163717_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20210205-163717_Chrome.jpg
    34.4 KB · Views: 13
First off, cool profile name!

Thank you for that info. That was my understanding also. That seller referred to a Mike @ MM Electronics, likely in Canada I'm thinking.



Boba MosFET said:
That doesn't sound right at all. dbx was a Massachusettes shop that had nothing to do with Pioneer. If dbx had anything working with them it may have been for transformers or a custom IC, but "built by Pioneer Elite"? No. Not when they had their own assembly shop.

The only Mike associated with dbx was Mike Kelley, who was the top guy there before the Harman International takeover. The right person to ask about this stuff would be AK'er David Moran, but he hasn't been around here for almost a year. PM him and see if he can get you the details. He's a very helpful and interesting person to have involved in a dbx discussion, since he worked for them. I believe he did their user and service documentation but I could be mixing him up with someone else.
Click to expand...
 
This reminded me of the myth of Pioneer making speakers and receivers for
Radio Shack. The speaker designer for RS even posted hear on AK a year or so back. He designed RS speakers from the late 60's into the early 90's. Nothing Pioneer about them. Most, not all receivers were Foster/Fostek.
 
Agreed. I've heard similar assertions over the years that Technics made some of the Realistic receivers that have eventually been debunked. Goes to show that "fake news" isn't a new concept.:rant:

I'm kind of in shock that a dbx BX-3 and a CX-3 pair would fetch $2400 CAD ($1900 USD).
 
Last edited:
Could be off base but it popped into my mind who ever made a receiver I have gives me the same vibe as the top components. Maybe not though i just looked at it and says made in Korea. Not sure where the top components in the pic were made. old pic Forgot how heavy it is.
index.php


IMG_2423.JPG
 
Last edited:
Boba MosFET said:
That doesn't sound right at all. dbx was a Massachusettes shop that had nothing to do with Pioneer. If dbx had anything working with them it may have been for transformers or a custom IC, but "built by Pioneer Elite"? No. Not when they had their own assembly shop.

The only Mike associated with dbx was Mike Kelley, who was the top guy there before the Harman International takeover. The right person to ask about this stuff would be AK'er David Moran, but he hasn't been around here for almost a year. PM him and see if he can get you the details. He's a very helpful and interesting person to have involved in a dbx discussion, since he worked for them. I believe he did their user and service documentation but I could be mixing him up with someone else.
Click to expand...

What is David Moran's profile name? Does anyone have a way to contact him?
 
Last edited:
Dswankey said:
This was my initial reaction however the unit does say "Made in Japan" so maybe DBX contracted with Pioneer for just this power amp?
Click to expand...

RVT1K said:
Designed in Mass. and contract manufacturing in Japan perhaps?
Click to expand...


I'd never seen the back of units from that generation so that was a surprise for me. But I should have looked at my DX-5 and saw it also said Made in Japan. Never assume, in audio...

I would agree it was a contract manufacturer. NAD has done that ever since they were founded, and their best years of production occurred with Fulet in Taiwan (owner of Proton). I would think that before dbx went to Pioneer they would probably go to a company like Matsushita, but anything is possible.
 
Jeepnmon said:
Agreed. I've heard similar assertions over the years that Technics made some of the Realistic receivers that have eventually been debunked. Goes to show that "fake news" isn't a new concept.:rant:

I'm kind of in shock that a dbx BX-3 and a CX-3 pair would fetch $2400 CAD ($1900 USD).
Click to expand...

I am too. I think the seller has the value of their BX-3 amp confused with the much more rare and powerful BX-1. I passed on two different opportunities to buy that BX-3/CX-3 combination over the last year, both times because the seller didn't have the remote for the CX-3 Mk II, and the price was around $600 I think.

Jeepnmon said:
What is David Moran's profile name? Does anyone have a way to contact him?
Click to expand...

Just do a member search for "david moran" and you'll see his posts and profile. He hasn't been here since last February so hopefully its because he's busy and healthy and not the alternative.
 
copied from private exchange

The dbx BX3 was after my time, technically, and yes, during Kelly's (note sp) stint. However, I have a BX2 (in the form of the ADC B200), and off-topic I recently sold (sob) both of my BX1s. Those were designed in dbx engineering, where I worked for 7y through the 1980s, and were made the floor below, in Newton Mass. Neither is the case with the B2 and B3.

Those would have been specked by Roger Allen of BSRJ(apan) most likely, multichannel bridgeable Japanese power amps OEMed by somebody or other. Allen did a lot of business w the US mil market there of course but also these units were shipped to US and worldwide dealers in the waning years. First as the upscale ADC brand HT line.

It is not impossible that Pioneer was involved, but unlikely, and I would have heard about it w that ADC line of the later 1980s including my B200 / B2. It might have been OEMed by Crown (not that Crown), but there were other reputable companies doing contract work then, the namebrands mentioned above and the lesser-known.

Not designed by dbx engineers, but reviewed and initial-tested in Newton, sure. Maybe not the BX3, actually, not positive; I had been laid off by then.

(It also is possible but again unlikely that the OEM was changed b/w the B200 / BX2 years and the BX3 introduction.)

So: Good products, not supersuperduper like the BX1 and CX1, but, you know. My B200 is a workhorse, bridged, powerful, able to drive fairly low-z loads, switches give out sometimes so any unit of that vintage needs a deoxit spraydown (naturally). Cool metering, not notably accurate but a nifty lightshow a high levels.

The B3 has a similarly good reputation.

Is any of this stuff better than competing Rotel, Adcom, NAD, Hafler amps of the day, or since? No, not remotely.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom