Lexicon Bluray player a rebadged Oppo


I guess these two paragraphs say it all:

So where is our review of the Lexicon BD-30, you ask? It's right here in our review of the Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player. We see no reason to waste the time or energy in reviewing the Lexicon when they clearly just put an Oppo BDP-83 into a new case. What did, however, run a series of benchmark tests on the Lexicon player to see if it measured identically to the Oppo BDP-83. As you will see, the results are quite astounding and speak volumes about THX and their certification requirements.

We live in a world where everyone is building products with other peoples parts. For most companies it's simply not cost effective to produce their own DVD / BD players. Lexicon isn't the only brand doing this and you would be surprised at just how many others are. Lexicon was smart in choosing the Oppo BDP-83 design for their player since it's currently the best Universal BD player on the market in its price class. It's also a proven design that plays every current format being produced on digital recording media. Where they went wrong, however, was when they simply lifted the Oppo BDP-83 player and threw it into their own chassis without making any performance enhancing modifications - despite claims to have done just that. Sadly they paid for THX certification and THX happily took their money to allow Lexicon to slap their badge on the front panel - apparently without actually testing to see if it met the core requirements of which we would suppose any THX Blu-ray player would have to adhere. If THX is doing this with Blu-ray players, it makes you wonder what they are doing with A/V receivers and other THX certified products. Has the THX badge, for select existing clients, simply degraded into a marketable commodity with no real backing or validity?

Now what was the price of the Oppo again, in it's original version? Around $400-$500? And the Lexicon costs around $3000+. Ouch!

Seems like the Lexi is undeniably a con, as is Lucas' THX. :lol:
 
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It is disheartening that a company with the reputation of Lexicon should do something like this. They seem to have corroborated with THX to get a false certification, and hurriedly removed it after this expose from Audioholics. One starts to wonder if they really had or have any technical capabilities or were just re-packing other's products all the time. What a shame !!

Companies such as Oppo, Emotiva, and PSB seem to shaking the very foundations of the market by doing some solid research and introducing top notch products at affordable prices. Our own Lithos did something similar by beating Bose's design in price and performance, but unfortunately he did not have the market to make it big.

Cheers
 
Companies such as Oppo, Emotiva, and PSB seem to shaking the very foundations of the market by doing some solid research and introducing top notch products at affordable prices. Our own Lithos did something similar by beating Bose's design in price and performance, but unfortunately he did not have the market to make it big.

Cheers

I respect companies like these.Any big brand can do r&d and come out with a good product given the resources like lexicon/bose etc have.

But to be a small company like emo/oppo and still come out with a revolutionary product requires passion, dedication, talent. Their honesty/passion rewards these companies with a handful of loyal customers who because of this philosophy will always support the company.
 
Hi,

Mark Levinson apparently did the same with his Red Rose Music products.

Rebadged Chinese products sold at inflated prices.


Regards
Rajiv
 
Our own Lithos did something similar by beating Bose's design in price and performance, but unfortunately he did not have the market to make it big.

Cheers

Venkat Sir I think I haven't ask you this
Is lithos that good? Have you heard that?
I
I am getting Lithos Noa 1 system ( 4 Sats,1 Centre and 1 Passive woofer ) at a good price .Now i will be using it as 2 channel system .( by salvaging a Center)
Now will it be a good decision?
also planning to use 2 satellites as desktop speakers ,will; it be a good decision?
 
Mark Levinson apparently did the same with his Red Rose Music products.

Rebadged Chinese products sold at inflated prices.


Not only that, he made it very clear in a recent interview (around 2008-2009 in What Hi-Fi Sound & Vision, Indian edition) that the hi end was a con job. He was doing some work for LG at the time.
 
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In way, the extraordinary work being done in Silicon Valley is shaking the market and reason for what is happening. Some time ago, you needed to undertake serious R&D and produce your own design for DSP, decoding, upscaling etc. Today, all that is thrown out of the window. For scaling you have companies such as Fardoudja and Anchor Bay. For DAC you have companies such as Burr Brown, TI, Cirrus Logic, etc. For DSP, TI leads the world with companies such as Analog Devices following closely behind. For sound decoding, again, you have Cirrus Logic and others. The technology and economies of scale that these chip manufacturers bring to the market is very difficult to beat.

Today, it is not difficult for a company such as Outlaw to create a processor that can shake ones made by Lexicon or B&K. Companies will be forced to change their strategy to survive in such markets. One way is being customer centric and providing exceptional service. Another way is market reach that companies such as Onkyo, Denon, and Yamaha control.

Unfortunately companies such as Lexicon, B&K, Anthem had cornered themselves into a small niche market in which they had a solid lead in terms of in-house technical knowledge. They made expensive products which only a small percentage of the market could afford. Now with companies such as Emotiva and Outlaw snapping at their heels with equivalent products at 1/10th the price, they really have to go back to the drawing boards and see how they can re-invent themselves. But, what Lexicon is doing is not the right way. They will destroy their own reputation and the market support they have so painstakingly built over the last two or three decades.

Cheers
 
Venkat Sir I think I haven't ask you this
Is lithos that good? Have you heard that?

I did mention this in another thread. A few years ago, I did hear the Noa1 for a few hours, in a 2.1 configuration. I was impressed by the sound stage, clarity, and complete lack of ear fatigue from these speakers. In a review, AV Max also praised these speakers.

But again, Hemanth, as I have mentioned many times, speakers are very subjective and need a personal audition before writing the cheque.

Cheers
 
rebadging is a fairly common practice. Sometimes there are design inputs that go in from the customer company, sometimes the OEM maker uses the technology of the customer to bring out their own stuff, sometimes there's a bit of both. The fact of the matter is that this has always been happening and will always happen. We're just fortunate enough to be part of an online community where such things are brought to light, and where people know about companies like Oppo, Hsu research, Usher and so on which are doing quality R&D and production at affordable prices, and producing stuff that can rival or exceed stuff costing much more.
 
I did mention this in another thread. A few years ago, I did hear the Noa1 for a few hours, in a 2.1 configuration. I was impressed by the sound stage, clarity, and complete lack of ear fatigue from these speakers. In a review, AV Max also praised these speakers.

But again, Hemanth, as I have mentioned many times, speakers are very subjective and need a personal audition before writing the cheque.

Cheers

thanks sir.expert opinion alwyas matters...
yes I am auditioning it but may be for max 20-30 minuts and i am not able to take my amp -that is the issue

thanks once again!
 
Last month my good old Lexicon RT10 DVD player laser unit died. Following this I began my search for a spare laser unit. On contacting the local agent Sahil International, I realised it was going to take ages and turn out to be very expensive to get an original spare laser unit. A couple of well placed friends in the USA also tried to get the spare laser unit from Lexicon without any luck, but they told me that Lexicon RT10 is based on the Marantz 8400, which is based on the Pioneer DV47a. So I opened the Lexicon RT10 and found that the laser unit part number was OWX8003 which is same as the laser units in most Pioneer DV series DVD players. So I purchased the Pioneer OWX8003 laser unit locally for Rs1500/- only, and installed it in the Lexicon RT10 DVD player. It worked perfectly and I thought this would be good information for all of you on the forum
 
Lexicon RT10 is based on the Marantz 8400, which is based on the Pioneer DV47a. So I opened the Lexicon RT10 and found that the laser unit part number was OWX8003 which is same as the laser units in most Pioneer DV series DVD players.

If this is true, then my thought process in my review of the Pioneer Dv220 is so very true. I wondered why anyone would even try to make a DVD player that is better than the DV-220 at it's price range. With over 10 years of experience behind them it will be difficult to beat Pioneer's knowledge and capabilities.

Now Ayre seems to have take a more sane approach. They have taken the BD-83, kept the video processing part, and redone the audio processing part.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1181755

Ayre DX-5 at $10,000 is a rebadged $500 OPPO. - Audio Video Revolution Forum

http://blog.stereophile.com/ces2010/ayre_dx-5_universal_player/

But charging 10,000 for a $500 unit does not make sense to me at all. As one member said, even if you picked up Ayre's own renowned DAC, and took a digital out from the Oppo, you will end up spending less and getting the same level as the 10,000 player from Ayre.

What are these companies doing?

Cheers
 
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Theo Acoustica - Roydon D'souza is located opposite the Kalina University. They usually work on hi-end audio equipment. I guess they buy the laser units from suppliers in the market so no warranty, but its quite a complicated task to identify these laser units correctly when trying to find the actual manufacturer. Its not easy for all technicians to do without ending up with wrong versions of the part sometimes.

Although the Lexicon RT10, Marantz 8400 & Pioneer DV47a have the same disc drives and transport electronics, all three companies use completely different audio electronics and DAC's which set them apart in performance. The sound of the Lexicon RT10 is very good, actually better than the Marantz 8400 & Pioneer DV47a for sure
 
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Theo Acoustica - Roydon D'souza is located opposite the Kalina University. They usually work on hi-end audio equipment. I guess they buy the laser units from suppliers in the market so no warranty, but its quite a complicated task to identify these laser units correctly when trying to find the actual manufacturer

Although the Lexicon RT10, Marantz 8400 & Pioneer DV47a have the same disc drives and transport electronics, all three companies use different audio electronics and DAC's which set them apart in performance. The sound of the Lexicon RT10 is far better than the Marantz 8400 & Pioneer DV47a for sure

hi HiFi,

a question - if i could get hold of a marantz cd7 cdp, and if the laser is defective, do you think i could get a replacement at theo acoustica?
yes, i will call Mr. D'Souza myself, but offhand, do you think replacements will be available? TIA
 
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