Lexicon MC4 V MC8 V MC12

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Has anyone tested the Lexicon processors back to back or had any kind of experience of more than one from the range. In terms of inputs and facilities, the MC4 would do for me, but only if the sound quality for HT and Audio is similar as the MC12.

Has anyone demo'd any Lexicon against the Meridian 861?
 
MC 12 has room EQ which kind of makes it a moot point. MC 8 is good, but EQ makes a hell of a lot of difference in my experience.:) havnt heard the Meridian or the MC4.:thumbsup:
 
The MC4 is a cracking processor and just as good as the MC8 but without zone 2 options and as Thunder has pointed out it does lack Room EQ which the MC12 has and if you are running full range speakers then EQ is superb and a worthy inclusion but if you are running small speakers then the Sub is really the one that needs EQ for the Lower frequencies <80Hz which i am useing.

I used to own a Meridian G68 and that is a cracking processor which does have EQ but for movies i do prefer the Lexicon, i have the MC4 by the way and it is all i need for Movies....
 
Thanks guys, really helpful.

I am told that the balanced outputs make a big difference which is the reason for my preference of the MC8 B over the MC 4. I havent listened to balanced v unbalanced and dont have the time. Im not concerned about the second zone, but am looking for AAA sound quality for HT and 2 channel.

Can anyone shed any light please?

The rest of the equipment is: Bryston 9B SST and M&K SS150THX; Rel storm. CD is Audio Aero and DVD is Pioneer 989. Townshend Isolda speaker cables and MIT interconnects (soon to be changed to Townshend)
 
Generaly Balanced connections are better over Long Runs, but if you are useing Pre/Pro - Amp with 1M interconnects it will not make much difference....
 
I bought my MC-8B before the MC-4 was released. Had the MC-4 been available I think I would have had a real problem deciding on which to get due to the large difference in price. From a sound point of view I believe they are identical - same basic software, processing, DACs etc.
I run active speakers with balanced inputs, so when deciding on the 8 or 8B there was really no decision. The long(ish) cable runs to the speakers could well be effected by interference picked up by the cables as I have a load of wireless equipment and a lot of other PC etc equipment drawing a fair bit of power. All this can create a fair bit of interference that balanced connections (even on short runs) can help to eliminate.

Although the MC-4 & MC-8 do sound the same, I believe (from other people rather than personal experience) that the MC-12 does sound quite different. This I believe is mainly down to the much better software in the MC-12, and not just the room EQ part of it, that allows far more setup options.
Although I think that the Lexicon processors are the best for AV I know that many people don't like them for music and prefer the sound from Meridian processors. Personally I do like the Lexicon sound for music, but then again I can't afford the price or space for a dedicated stereo system as well, so I suppose I would say this.

Mark.
 
Thanks everyone.

MarkE19 - The MC12 comes a lot cheaper second hand - do you happen to know if a revision 3 would still come with all the software that you think makes it sound better than the 8 or 4. I dont suppose it would come with the room eq but my room is small and I have small speakers and a sub so i can do without that.
As I said im looking for the absolute 'best of the best' in terms of sound quality.

thanks
 
Apart from Zones and future upgrades there is one more thing and that is Dynamic range. MC12 has got more dynamic range, more zones and more upgrades then MC8 and MC4 infact MC4's architecture doesn't allow any hardware upgrades. I never heard either of these and I am quite happy with my MC1 but whenever I will upgrade I think it will be Lexicon. IMO if you are looking to buy brand new processor then MC4 and MC8 are great but for second hand purchase MC12 is a bargain.
 
If you do go for the MC12 whatever version you will always be able to get it upgraded to the latest anyway so it could be a good investment, I do not know how much the ugrades cost though...
 
If people just want balanced outputs they could use the Genelec box which is very nice.
 
Lexicon processors are always a good buy second hand IMO as they seem to loose a silly amount of money from their new prices - they just don't seem that popular in the second hand market. I've seen a nearly new MC-8B go for under £3k not too long ago. therefore if there is an MC-12 going at a good price it should be a no brainer.
IIRC version 4 of the software of the MC-12 added the room EQ etc. I know a couple of people with an MC-12 still running version 3, so it can't be that bad - although the upgrades do tend to be very expensive, especially when additional hardware is part of the upgrade, so that could have a lot to do with them not upgrading.

Mark.
 
The problem / advantage of the secondhand market is all the second hand purchasers want the latest software upgrades, without them they become a very unsaleable commodity. Look at the predecesor to the MC1, people are just NOT interested in the unit unless software v4. The upgrade when new are too much money and when people buy units with older software and look to upgrade they are scared of the price. It kills the market IMHO. :(
 
There`s a Lex MC-12 V4 f/s on E-bay that looks tempting but the guy has no feedback.
 
I have been looking at this auction and it certainly looks suspect especially when the user Id's are kept private....:(
 
It says the MC12 v4 has 8 Sharc Processors

Is this different to the MC4 and MC8?

I can imagine with more processors, more detail and accurate steering will be the result
 
From the specs for the MC-8 on www.lexicon.com
Powerful
At the heart of the MC-8 are four Analog Devices SHARC digital signal processing engines, one Cirrus Logic DSP engine, and ten 24-bit/192kHz digital-to-analog converters - an architecture that is nearly identical to the MC-12. As a result, the MC-12 and MC-8 share the same tremendous processing power and sonic soul.The MC-8 includes THX Ultra2 certification and dts 96/24 decoding, rounding out its impressive list of playback technologies: Dolby Digital EX, Pro-Logic II, dts-ES, dts Neo:6, and LOGIC 7.
As to how much difference to the sound these differing specs make is only really going to be decided with a side by side comparison.

Mark.
 
Mark - If you ever feel up to it you're welcome to come over to mine and bring the MC8B with you and we could run a comparison test to see what differences there is between the 2 " MC4 & MC8 " it's about time i returned the hospitality....:)

Cheers

John
 
Thanks John, I'd love to do the comparison but would have nightmares just thinking about all the unplugging of cables, not to mention trying to plug them all back in once I got back home :suicide:
At least when wireing up a mixing desk to run a PA system for a band I have a little more room to get at everything. Getting behing my rack takes a lot of pulling in of the beer gut :blush:

Mark.
 
MarkE19 said:
Thanks John, I'd love to do the comparison but would have nightmares just thinking about all the unplugging of cables, not to mention trying to plug them all back in once I got back home :suicide:
At least when wireing up a mixing desk to run a PA system for a band I have a little more room to get at everything. Getting behing my rack takes a lot of pulling in of the beer gut :blush:

Mark.

No worries Mark :thumbsup: the offer will always be open though mate even if you just wanted to have a listen to my crap system :eek:
 
Yeh, you really need to get those subs upgaded to something worth while :devil:
Thanks for the offer though, if I ever get a chance I'd love to pop over :smashin:

Mark.
 
This MC-12 was advertised on ebay recently - withdrawn from sale within minutes of the end of the auction! Didnt attract one bid.

Does anyone know where the Bryston SP1.7 stands in relation to Home Theatre. Im told better than Krell but is it as good as top end processors? Ive heard an old SP.1 which was pretty good. They come alot cheaper than the MC 12 so worth considering.
 
This MC-12 was advertised on ebay recently - withdrawn from sale within minutes of the end of the auction! Didnt attract one bid.

Does anyone know where the Bryston SP1.7 stands in relation to Home Theatre. Im told better than Krell but is it as good as top end processors? Ive heard an old SP.1 which was pretty good. They come alot cheaper than the MC 12 so worth considering.
 

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