New Lexicon Blu-ray Player just a repackaged Oppo BDP-83 - Only $3000 More

Wow...My attempt at humour fell flat.

 

No it didn't. I thought your post was hilarious!

 

Another call for a sarcasm emoticon

 

So did mine.

 

The question is: How can there be a disparity in the black levels when the player's electronics are identical?

More BS from that "review."

Again, if the player's internals are identical, how can this statement be true?

Then, if you read the comments that HTR deleted from their site by going here: http://www.stabbingpixies.com/fr_index.cfm and clicking on the "HTR transcript" link, it's clear HTR is trying to conceal that their puff piece of a review is nothing more than a big promotion for one of their advertisers.

Draw whatever conclusions you wish regarding these events. The unit and "review" of it are both scams in my opinion and have obliterated any credibility HTR, THX and Lexicon may have had.

 

Nothing new...90's Lexicon amps were just rebadged Bryston's with a price mark-up

 

sar·chasm ('sär-"ka-z&m) : The giant gulf (chasm) between what is said and the person who doesn't get it.

 

If I'm reading you correctly, I don't see how this can be true. First, they'd have to charge well above $1,000 to other "manufacturers" to make any kind of profit. And if that was the case, the other manufacturers would just order them like any other consumer for $500.

But regardless of Oppo's true cost, this doesn't excuse Lexicon or Home Theater Review.

 

Good point...

 

Well over the years I've seen a few examples of reviewers that have given a certain companies products superb reviews time after time.

Then they stop doing reviews. You check up and they are now working/evangelising for the said company.

If I read some other articles on this Lexicon scandal correctly then the good Dr actually compared the Lexicon to the SE model of the Oppo so differences would have been found between the two.

I could be wrong, I was reading all those articles and posts avidly with great humour last night/morning before I went to bed.

 

The Home Theatre Review was garbage...completely agree with your point.

 

Agreed.

 

I had never heard of the Home Theater Review website before this debacle, but believe me, I won't be reading their reviews in the future.

 

we would be jaded if we just shrugged, wouldn't we? this is shocking to me....i hope they end up on 60 minutes....

 

I'm just too innocent to "judge a book by its cover".....but some of you may wish to comment on Jerry's 'GQ' look.....


HTR Owner

Cannot believe he turned off comments and never bothered to drop his review!!!

 

I've got a problem with any manufacturer that would take someone else's product, slip it in a new case (and not make any other changes) and not let the consumer know. In my book, guilty by omission.

 

Or, rather, guilty by obfuscation.

 

Here's the deleted posts:

http://stabbingpixies.com/fr_index.cfm

 

Does anyone know about how much it costs for a company--such as Lexicon--to have the heavier, fancier faceplate/box made? I'm trying to figure out how much Lexicon SHOULD have marked up the price vs. what they actually were charging.

 

Also keep in mind that not every audiophile surfs online discussion forums. It is possible that an audiophile with coin to drop on a new Blu-Ray player would not be familiar with the Oppo since it isn't sold in stores. There are audiophiles who will walk into their local store and drop $3000 on the Lexicon based on a recommendation from a salesperson and, possibly, an impressive demonstration. I don't support Lexicon's approach and lack of creativity, but they know what they are doing.

 

i'll confess to naivete and the like, but i can't imagine being on the team of people who made this decision and gave the order to price a fancy face-plated $500 Oppo for over 3 large....seriously, how do they sleep at night???

 

The market price of aluminum is approximately $1.04/pound. Figure 2 pounds of aluminum for the faceplate. Cold rolled steel goes for somewhere around $0.24/pound. Figure 2 lbs of steel for the rest of the case. So, we have approximately $2.50 worth of raw materials.

Let's be generous and estimate a labor factor of 10x for pressing into plates, machining, and stenciling logos. That gives us $25.00 worth of finished materials. This is a very rough estimate, of course.