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Lexicon Puts $500 Blu-Ray Player In New Case, Charges $3000 Markup ...And Gets Caught
If you've always suspected that high-end audiovisual equipment is sort of a ripoff, the folks at Audioholics have confirmed some of your suspicions. In their review of the $3500, THX-certified Lexicon BD-30, the site just came out and said it: the player is another manufacturer's very nice $500 Blu-Ray player slapped inside a new case and sold with a $3000 markup.
No, seriously, we only wish we were making this up.
It's an Oppo BDP-83. Normally we'd launch into a statement like this with more tact. We may, for example, wax eloquent about the Lexicon BD-30's beautiful chassis or it's billet aluminum front face. We could tell you about the heft of the unit, or the fact that comes double boxed with enough padding to warrant throwing it off the FedEx or UPS truck while it's still moving. While all of that is true, the Lexicon BD-30 is still an Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Player. And what's more, it's not just using the same parts - they actually stuck the player inside - chassis and all.
Way to be subtle there, Lexicon. Adding to the hilarity of the situation is that the Lexicon was the first Blu-Ray player to be THX-certified, but mentions of it have quietly disappeared from the Web--except, of course, the sites that uncovered the deception in the first place.
Oppo on the Inside, Lexicon on the Outside [Audioholics] (Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)
THX, Lexicon Official Response Regarding BD Player Certification [Audioholics]
~david
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