Ha ha, "compander" sounds like a word someone says when they are trying to appear smart.
Companders are COMPression / exPANDER units.
The theory (and practice) was that if you expand the dynamic range on playback and lower the level of the quiet stuff, you would also be pushing down the noise floor.
They're still in use in pro audio equipment racks, and I've wondered about an expander for my HT. Then I remember that I don't really have a noise floor, practically speaking, with my digital sources.
Hell, I still want a subharmonic synthesizer, which were popular enough for years that you could buy them at Radio Shack.
