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

People were/are willing to pay for perception.

To me, what's more disturbing is that Denon and Onkyo are using Funai as an OEM. Funai has a pretty poor track record for reliability, let alone performance.

 

Slick.

Just like 20W-50 Pennzoil.

 

caveat emptor

 

To further flesh out that thought, it's entirely likely that a substantial percentage of current* Lexicon owners aren't audiophiles at all, and typically hire installers or designers to equip and furnish The Media Room. After all, this is a BluRay player we're discussing, not phonographs. At which point, things like matching faceplates in an all-Lexicon rack are often of more importance than audio quality. Or value.

*Asterisked because it wasn't so long ago that Lexicon was an innovative CE manufacturer. But they've slowly lagged over the years – for reasons legit and otherwise – while keeping the prices sky-high. Seemingly for an accountant-researched demographic (investment bankers?). This septupled-$500 player is a poorly-disguised example of what happens when businesses spend more time pleasing some unseen Board of Directors than actually delivering quality goods and services.

Let the dumb rich guys get suckered. Good for the economy. Do your homework. Caveat emptor. blah blah blah.

 

Same here...par for the course in this, or any, consumer goods industry. Everything from cereal to car parts. Lexicon have been rebadging stuff forever (first it was Bryston amps, then ATI, now I dunno) but for their targeted market segment it didn't matter (and thats what it is all about...marketing and brand perception). Companies do not exist in a vacuum, and very, very few have their own designs/manufacturing lines.

 

Agreed. This is primarily for the Home Theatre market.

 

I'm shocked that a Funai is now as good as a Denon at 10% of the price!

 

Should has nothing to do with it....like Red Rose, they are motivated by one thing...greed.

 

Because of this ... well, scam ... I wouldn't be surprised if this puts some pressure on the other big shots of high-end audio equipment to a) slash the hefty price tags and b) provide a more thorough and honest review, photos and all, of their up-and-coming model in order to avoid their past and potential clients from becoming suspicious when choosing their next mega-expensive player or receiver. I mean, seriously folks, bad press like this (it's being discussed on every audio/music forum I subscribe to) from ONE household name puts them ALL in hot water to some degree. It sure as hell doesn't stop with Lexicon.

I knew there was a reason why I invested in an OPPO two and a half years ago. Great people, great products, great prices, great results.

Dan

 

I don't think this will change a lot, since there aren't that many comparable cases of blatant rip-off.

Since the first CD players in 1983, small high end companies have frequently licensed from other companies products that they couldn't develop themselves quickly enough (CD, DVD, Blu-ray players), but this was not a secret to more knowledgeable people, it was usually mentioned in reviews, and the price premium wasn't as huge as in this case, or the company really added something to the OEM hardware which was at least partly worth the higher price.

 

I remember a firm in the UK was selling power filters for hifi gear at a cost of £200 each.

You could buy the same item (tech specs etc.) from the actual manufacturer but without the screen-printed logo on it for £30.

Chord Clearways they were called.

 

There may be many examples of this. How much of a difference is there between an audiophile "hospital-grade" outlet (mains) and something you would buy at a hardware store?

 

Unfortunately, this sort of thing goes on all the time, particularly in cable manufacturing.

 

Oh dont go there. I mentioned and shattered the illusion to some that in fact 99.99% of hifi cable firms dont actually make their own cable and just buy it in bulk from eastern europe and China for pennies.

The stark reality was too much for some.

"lalalalalalalalalalaIcanthearyou!lalalalalalalalala"

 

Cable sounds better when it's in a nice package...

 

Oh yes indeed, with some nice wooden bits clamped round them at each end too.

Anyyyyway back to deceptive manufacturing and price hiking......

 

daglesj, please step away from the forums third rail.

 

"A fool and his money are soon parted." The blowback from this fiasco will erode Lexicon's brand image.

 

This is amazing!! 60min's should do a show

 

IN the interest of consumer protection, I'd love to see any hifi audio magazine, or online zine for that matter, do an investigative, reported piece exposing such cable/player/high-end frauds. Unearthing this stuff and telling the truth about it would make for a great read and would probably have broad appeal in "mainstream" media. Besides, it's the duty of the audio "press" to report such things (isn't it?), if only to offset so many fluff and view editorial approaches.

 

So long as those magazines are selling ad space this will never happen.

 

Indeed and as I mentioned earlier a lot of reviewers are not as 'independant' as they appear.

The hi-fi industry isnt regulated like the drug/medical ones. They can get away with saying/doing anything.

 

In fact, even if it were to happen, I'm not sure if the results would change any mind. I've read enough on this board and others about the arguments that not everything can be measured, and that it's only what one hears that counts.

 

Believe me, so would the legitimate cable manufacturers! (There are a few btw...)

 

Yeah, kudos.

Except they missed the part where the shape, size, materials, and alignment of the Lexicon logo reduce 11th-17th order odd harmonic distortion in the digital data stream between the transport and decoding sections.