Any LEXICON CES 2009 Flagship Processor announcements
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Zippo, sorry. I have been looking.
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I talked to one of their tech.s a few months ago and he was hesitant to give out much info. Didn't say they were, didn't say they weren't.
I have to imagine though that they have a working version of somethiing that they are putting through the paces. That's good I suppose, they won't announce or release anything until it makes the Lexicon grade. Unlike some of the latest pre/pros..................hello Cary?
Chris
I have to imagine though that they have a working version of somethiing that they are putting through the paces. That's good I suppose, they won't announce or release anything until it makes the Lexicon grade. Unlike some of the latest pre/pros..................hello Cary?
Chris
No doubt Lexicon will eventually join the "club" and put out a processor with HD codecs, HDMI switching/processing, etc. Heck, even Bryston has announced all that in their new SP-3, and they are usually the last to adopt new features. Lexicon move slow, but when they do it they do it right the first time.
I too would love to see a modernized Lexicon too. I sold my MC-8 after it was clear Lexicon considered it a dead platform. I purchased a Cary C11 under the direct quote from Cary HQ that it would be upgradable and mate with their C11v... It sounds great but they completely lied and now simply do not respond to posts or direct phone calls about what is clearly spelled out in the manual - but I digress...
The biggest problem Lexicon will face is to not price itself out of the market... There are 3-4K pre/pros that sound a lot better than the MC-12 and MC-8 and now that L7 is no longer "king" - it's still pretty good but we are no longer in a 5.1 limited world. Lex is going to have to piss of it's loyal base to win new customers and some old back - If the MC12 replacement price continues to trend upward - there will be few(er) buyers and this will relegate Lex to a smaller niche market than they already are. As such, they are going to have to price the new flagship under the price of a V5 MC12 HD.
The biggest problem Lexicon will face is to not price itself out of the market... There are 3-4K pre/pros that sound a lot better than the MC-12 and MC-8 and now that L7 is no longer "king" - it's still pretty good but we are no longer in a 5.1 limited world. Lex is going to have to piss of it's loyal base to win new customers and some old back - If the MC12 replacement price continues to trend upward - there will be few(er) buyers and this will relegate Lex to a smaller niche market than they already are. As such, they are going to have to price the new flagship under the price of a V5 MC12 HD.
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For sure. I just can't break out 7, 8, 9 grand for a Lex pre/pro when there are ones to be had for 3 to 4 grand. On the Cary 11a thread, there are more than a few peeps that claim the 11a sounds as good or better than a whole lot of high end units, including the MC-12HD.
I'd pull the trigger on the 11a now if it weren't for their reputation of bad service and the fact that the 11a is riddled with bugs.
Chris
I'd pull the trigger on the 11a now if it weren't for their reputation of bad service and the fact that the 11a is riddled with bugs.
Chris
HDMI 1.3 connections and HD audio decoder chips are commodities at this point; i.e., manufacturers don't have to re-invent them, just buy them from OEM parts makers. So that's certainly not holding Lexicon up (they demonstrated they can do stable HDMI implementation almost 3 years ago on the MC-12HD).
From the cryptic morsels posted by Lexicon reps at SMR Forum last year, seems there were/are two things delaying the new platform. First, everything was put on hold as Lexicon moved from Bedford, MA to the giant Harman campus in Northridge CA. Second, they're apparently working on some sort of "re-boot" of LOGIC7 (their words, not mine). Typical of the company, they wouldn't drop any further hints.
Lex processors were converting 2.0 and 5.1 to 7.1 in the mid-1990s. This capability wouldn't become ubiquitous until PLIIx was released almost 8 years later. Just adding HDMI 1.3 connectors and internal decoding of the new codecs should be the least of Lexicon's concerns, since it would just give them another "me too" product. What would be the point when you can get those same features elsewhere, and for less money?
Proprietary surround processing, bass management and room correction has always separated their processors from other pre-pros in the past, as it probably will in the future. Whatever processing they're working on, I hope it's worth it. Time will tell.
Sanjay
From the cryptic morsels posted by Lexicon reps at SMR Forum last year, seems there were/are two things delaying the new platform. First, everything was put on hold as Lexicon moved from Bedford, MA to the giant Harman campus in Northridge CA. Second, they're apparently working on some sort of "re-boot" of LOGIC7 (their words, not mine). Typical of the company, they wouldn't drop any further hints.
Lex processors were converting 2.0 and 5.1 to 7.1 in the mid-1990s. This capability wouldn't become ubiquitous until PLIIx was released almost 8 years later. Just adding HDMI 1.3 connectors and internal decoding of the new codecs should be the least of Lexicon's concerns, since it would just give them another "me too" product. What would be the point when you can get those same features elsewhere, and for less money?
Proprietary surround processing, bass management and room correction has always separated their processors from other pre-pros in the past, as it probably will in the future. Whatever processing they're working on, I hope it's worth it. Time will tell.
Sanjay
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