Excellent video switching, great at both movies and music. Easy setup. Great customer service!! Very professional.

no serial interface.

Well, I can say I'm the happiest man on this planet. I have waited and researched for so many months on pre/pro's and receivers. I can't explain in words the way this DC-1 sounds. I can hear things in my CD's and DVD's that I have never heard before. And these things aren’t just subtle nuances.

I was able to pick up the DC-1 used for around $1800 in perfect shape. The setup was a snap, within 1/2hr from unpacking it I was up and listening to the most remarkable piece of equipment.

I had a change to audition the Yamaha, Denon and ACT-3 in my home for several days. I can say with honesty that each of them had their advantages. The DSP-A1's remote was the most awful thing ever created. The Denon was very nice and had component video switching, but I new I wanted separates. The ACT was nice but didn't thrill me.

The Lexicon was the clear choice for what I wanted. It was the only box that supported DD-EX and I'm a big movie enthusiest. It doesn’t have component switching but my crappy DVD player doesn’t have component outs (Well it's not crappy just consumer grade). When I get a new DVD I will just pump it directly into my TV.

If your in the market for a superb listening experience in the under 2k range don't overlook the DC-1. And if you have 3k to spend get a DC-2!

Have a great new year everyone.

System
Lexicon DC-1
3-Denon POA 2400's
6-Paradigm Ref 20 v2's
1-Paradigm Active/CC
1-Paradigm Servo 15
Yamaha RV-V870 just as my tuner and to drive my center
Yamaha CDM-900 CD Changer
Panasonic A410 DVD
RCA DRD480RE DSS
36' Sony XBR-250

Similar Products Used:

Denon 5700, Yamaha DSP-A1, Acurus ACT-3 v2.

Great for it's processing modes

No direct analog path, not good as straight stereo pre.

Ahh, the DC-1, probably the most popular HT processor there is. I mine, it's a wonderful thing in it's element, which is DD and DTS. The thing leaves my totally cold as a straight 2 channel preamp. Thin sounding and grainy. I had owned a Nakamichi CA1, which has it all over the DC-1 in straight stereo mode. I canned the nak cause I missed the effects modes. I'm sure many will disagree with my findings however my HT system may be more revealing past the preamp than many others.

Similar Products Used:

Nakamichi CA1

I purchased it used with DD/DTS/THX/24bitDAC for $1900. Yes, it was a big investment for me, but I love this machine! There are so many features that you can tweak with, but very easy to understand. It is powered by Bryston 9B-ST Amp. Great combination. This preamp is definitely one of the best bargains in home theater world! Way recommended.

excellent build quality, adjustment choices, simple design

looks aren't all that great, upgrade to improved software versions is expensive.

If you are looking for a component that is handsdown the best for the money look no further. Lexicon is offering used DC-1 that have been traded in for the new MC-1. This is the best investment in audio that I have made. If you are looking for excellent sound and build quality and don't want to spend a ton of money this is for you.

This unit has many adjustment functions for fine tuning your personal hometheater. When you switch between sources or functions it is flawless. I am very sensitive to background noise, pops and hisses. I haven't heard any on this preamp. I personally have no complaints with the remote, it is very sensitive and takes care of every demand you can think of. only complaint is that it is not back lit.

This preamp has a 7.1 speaker system configuration for hometheater
The ergonomics of the piece are well designed and simple to use. the looks of the piece are not bad but not great, kind of nerdy for lack of better words. But looks are not important in my hometheater.

There are plenty of rca connections in the back, half of which I will never use. I only need a DVD/CD input, Tape, VCR, and phono. Eventually I will utilize all seven speaker channels when money allows. and the most important aspect of the choice is that Lexicon stands behind there products, they have excellent customer service.

money well spent

Similar Products Used:

proceed, classe', Rotel, Acurus,

I auditioned the DC-1 in my system and really have to hand it to Lexicon -- they spent their $$$ on advertising instead of product research and it really shows. What a piece of crap! Cold, bright and astringent-sounding, the DC-1 is perfect for the engineering dweebs who love to constantly tweek settings (and the DC-1 has hundreds of 'em) to muck up the sound in ways never before possible. But hey -- whatever blows your skirt up. If you have a tin ear, money to burn and an overwhelming desire to own a processor that looks as bad as it sounds, then you'll love the DC-1.

After spending about 1.5 years with the DC-1, I have to say that it is a superb sounding processor. This processor is anything but bright, even when set up with Martin-Logan speakers and Denon/McIntosh amplifiers. Panorama mode for 2-channel music listening is absolutely outstanding since it expands the soundstage. However, it will only work well if it is properly set up. I understand that Lexicon has introduced the DC-2, which use 24/96 dacs and the new flagship, MC-1.
The primary downfall of the DC-1 is the flimsy buttons. (The on/off switch is sometimes malfunctioning on mine). For music listening, you might try other processors, say, the Proceed AVP to see if it is any better. Otherwise, just buy a dedicated music pre-amp. For home theater, it is one of the best.

Hey Duke I do respect your opinion but tell me please where can I get some of that stuff You have been smoking???I own the DC-1 (DD,THX) for 15 mos.now and I'm very happy with it.I can't wait to upgrade it with DTS and 24bit/96KHZ dac's.Excelent piece for the $$$ with new models coming out soon,You can get fully loaded DC-1 for 2-2.5K used(Stereo Exchange in NYC)

If I had a choice of 3.5 Stars I would of chose that
Reference System:

Krell KAV-500 Amp (L,R)

Kenwood 6x100 THX Amp (C,LS,RS)

B&W 803's, HTM, SCM-8

Pioneer DVL-700 DVD/LD player

Rotel Tuner

Yamaha HiFi VCR.

39 year old ears.

Mostly various monster cable with Radio Shack connectors.

All in home.

DTS ****

AC-3 ****

DPL (THX) *****

DPL (Stereo rear) ***** (on action films only)

7.1 Processing is ***** (based on owners with 7.1 channels opinions)

RF-Demodulator **** (albeit expensive, see below)

Music (Bypass) ****

Music (Surround) *** (see below)

Usability ***

Build is ***

Bass is *** (Movies would be *****)

Documentation ***** (they set a new standard)

Recording Analog *****

Recording Digital N/A

The information here is based on 1.5 years of ownership and a wealth of information (not usually available for most
equipment) from the Lexicon DC-1 forum (http://www.smr-forums.com/forums/forum_3/board.html)

A lot of folks will try to sell you on Logic-7 (stereo rears on DPL). It is a remarkable piece of work. But on a lot of
material it exaggerates DPL leaks to the rears (often experienced as inappropriately having voices jump behind you and back
to the front again). DPL leaks are often not even noticed with "normal" decoding. With Logic-7 you will notice them. Is the
advantage of stereo rear steering worth living with Logic-7 disadvantages? That's up to you to decide. On action films it
works quite well. On heavy dialog films it works poorly. Problem is most action films I watch are AC-3 or DTS and the
dialog ones are DPL. Note that, the straight THX implementation on the DC-1 is outstanding.

A lot of folks will try to sell you on 7.1 channels. This can be a real benefit. But you must have a reasonable amount of
space behind the listener for it to be worth while. Don't assume more is always better.

Music surrounds are super. However, many of them loose substantial bass depending on your configuration. One of my favorite
music surround modes is panorama which you don’t hear raved about very much. The music surround effect called "Music
surround" is fantastic and often worth the sacrifice in bass. If it had the bass it should it would be even better.

General operation is good. However it does not encourage experimentation like the 561 does. Any twiddling you do is
permanent and the only way to get back to where you were before is to use a pen and paper or have a very good memory. Your
also limited in that you can only have an effect set one way. Wouldn't it be nice to have a Logic-7 with compression on and
Logic-7 with compression off as two different effect choices. So when someone screams at 11:00 PM that they can’t sleep you
can push one button and have compression be on. And the next time you go to use the unit you don't have wonder why half way
through the movie the bass seems weak because you left compression on from the last time. The 561 allows that sort of
customization.

DC-1 seems to have haunting problem with rear speakers for some owners. Some have lost them completely and permanently,
some have lost them completely and recovered them by various means, others have seen them play unusually low and recovered
them by various fiddling around and others (most DC-1 owners) have never had a problem. This is a serious problem that is
not fully understood apparently by anyone.

The DC-1 defaults to "Auto" Gain on it's analog inputs. Put it in manual mode and set the gain accordingly with your analog
device (i.e. just below clipping). The auto mode is dumb, it depends on how its initial gain is set, it will either do
nothing at all (i.e. not optimally use the ADC), or possibly roller coaster the volume over time until it drives you batty.

The DC-1 defaults to a "Loudness" curve on. You may want to shut this off. Because it assumes all devices play at reference
level when you set the volume to 0. This is rarely the case with analog devices if their input gain is optimally set and
even less likely do the right thing is in "Auto Gain". Also the reason I usually have to turn something down is because the
boss would prefer the chandelier to stop rattling. With the loudness curve on as you turn the volume down it turns the bass
(relative wise) up.

The remote is for the DC-1 only and is very effective and easy to use. I’m not sure if it’s the receiver or the remote but
I can be in the bedroom and blast the remote down the hall off the living room rear wall through the smoked glass and hit
the DC-1. Closest IR remote to RF I ever had. You can also program the remote to jump directly to new effects by
programming the remote or using spare "devices".

It was kind of hard to see the DC-1 display through the smoked glassed I have in front of it. But the large letters tend to
make up for its dimness.

Triggers are also a pain (not standard like the 561) on the DC-1. Be extra careful, I know 2 people that some how shorted
the trigger and required going back to the factory for repair. But the DC-1 does support both 12v and 5v.

Build on the DC-1 is not bad but not what you'd expect for a $5k list processor. Jacks are nothing above what you’d see on
the back of $500.00 receiver. I caution anyone considering monster like (iron gripping) connectors. I know one DC-1 owner
that pulled a jack out or the DC-1with a monster cable (iron gripping is overkill).

A lot of folks have had troubles with S-Video jacks on the DC-1, the pin sockets seem a tad oversized. Wiggling or an
alternate brand cable usually rectified it.

The "Whisper" DTS fan is not quite a "Whisper" but my DVL-700 player drowns it out (the glass door in front of the DC-1
helps which the DVL-700 does not get to hide behind). Once installed the fan is always on when DTS decoding only.

In order to avoid the "Pssstz" when pausing or changing tracks of a DTS recording you must use a separate device and lock
it into DTS only.

Lexicon has stated a significant software release to be announced in Jan 1999.

Setting up the DC-1 is probably one of the easiest. One small nuisance is how it automatically switches to the next speaker
when calibrating it. By the time I get the cursor to the speaker I want it jumps to the next. I constantly found myself
chasing the cursor around or waiting for it to come around again. I wish they would just get rid of the automatic jump or
make it an option. A nice feature it does offer is an external calibration menu which makes using something like the Video
Essential disc a piece of cake. I don't believe either the 561 or AVP offered this. It's a nice touch.

Warranty is a dismally short 1 year, pretty scary at this price range and complexity.

The LDD-1 rf-demodulator is way over priced but has a feature that saves you one digital input on the DC-1 and allows more
seamless usage. B&K also makes one with similar functionality for less money but is now discontinued. Yamaha $99.95 unit
works perfectly well but you use an extra input and you have to map it to another device input.

The DC-1 can down convert digital sources to the analog outputs for recording. It also can "encode" 5.1 channel digital
sources into a 2 channel analog "Logic-7" enhanced recording for better "Logic-7" decoding. The 561 has no digital to
analog recording capability and relies you CD/LD/DVD players analog outputs.

The term "Logic-7" is used very loosely and really means 2 things and depends on the context of the conversation of the
moment as to which of those to 2 being discussed. "Logic-7" is a surround effect that can create "stereo" rears with mono
sources using the front left and right channels to steer with. "Logic-7" is also one of the surround effects that enables
7.1 channels.

The DC-1 had absolutely no clicks, pops or thuds with any format or any operation (powering on, powering off, track
changing etc.)

Even though the newer DC-1's (since March 98 or so) have increased from 20-bit DACs to 24-bit DACs the DC-1 has no ability
to take advantage of running these DACs in 24-bit mode. The DC-1 is inherently a 20bit/48mhz machine. The DACs were changed
only due to the manufacturer of the DACs (Crystal) phasing out the 20-bit DACs and introducing new DACs that are
functionally and pin backwards compatible with the 20-bit version.

Software upgrades are via (reluctantly) user installable PROMs.

Rumor has it, Lexicon will announce a DC-2 in Jan 1999.

Lexicon has a track record of attractive trade in policies when they announce replacement products.

List $5600.00 (DTS and LDD-1)

Street $3500.00 (DTS and LDD-1).

Digital inputs

Just a short note to all you Lexiconers. Go to Audioauthority.com for cool devices that let you add additional coax and Toslink devices. i'm using the 1177 and it works great. I've got four multi disk changers plus a satellite. Good people there will answer your questions.

I've owned my DC-1 for 2 years and am continually amazed at its performance. In Dolby 5.1 Logic 7 it surrounds you with sound that helps bring you into movies that otherwise would go unwatched (at least not more than once). Even old movies come to life when played through a DC-1. As with any home theater, speaker placement is very important and 7 channels is the way to go. I started with 5 channels using dipole sides instead of rears.
Lexicon has stopped production on the DC-1 which means the price has dropped, making it by far the best high end audio processor bargain on the market.