I am at a loss here......NONE!

1. The most glaring....appalling warranty and technical support service 2. Not at all bullet-proof build quality like Lexicon claims 3. No i-Link for DVD Audio/SACD or HDMI switching. 4. Evasive answers from Lexicon about future upgrades to i-Link or HDMI 5. Very long Power up sequence that freexes up on you at times. 6. Extremly sensitive piece of equipment that still has a lot of software bugs. 7. Will set you back over 6 grand & perfoms like wimp

Bought the RV-8 in June 2005 after reading rave reviews. 7th Amp channel blew within a month. Has been several months since negioting a warranty repair through Lexicon and the retailer. No luck so far; I am surprised that the manufacturer is still hesitant to replace the item that was only a month old when it blew. Both parties are tossing the ball in each other's court & I feel like the meat in the sandwich. The service center in my town is dealing with Lexicon USA Tech Support and after several days of testing have not been able to decide what to do next or even diagnose the problem. I have spent tons of money (International phone calls) calling up Lexicon USA and get the same politically correct and avoidant answer: "we're looking into the problem and doing whatever we can to help you." Yesterday I spoke to a customer support person and told them that I shall be taking up the matter with Better Business Bureau of Boston and try to have this issue resolved or else I am taking legal action against them for lack of service and support that they claim to provide. I had several options like any customer does in home theater these days. Products from Yamaha, Denon, Rotel and Arcam had outstanding features with cutting edge technology; all of which I gave up given the stellar sound quality and advanced Logic 7 processing that Lexicon boasts. As luck would have it I never got to experience any of that but got stuck with a product that never got off the ground. Mr. Anwar Ahmed at Dubai Audion Center didn't have a unit for auditioning and I told me if I opened the box then I've bought it. Lesson for us all: never buy any audio product without listening to it and walk away from dealers like him. Moreover never be sold on a product because of magazine reviews; check it out yourself first. My undoing was that I trusted Michael Fremer's reviews (Ultimate AV Guide April 2005) on the unit that has also made it to the Platinum list of products on their web site. As of the moment I am $6400 in the hole, no receiver to run my Home theater system for several months and no word from Lexicon about future course of action on my problem. After several phone calls to Lexicon I am always told that the problem is being resolved and I'll get an e-mail. I've received only one e-mail so far which was luke warm at best. I am sure that some of you may feel that this is perhaps an isolated problem that doesn't happen very often at all. Even if it happens once in a decade, I'd rather not see any of you suffer the way that I did. Please be very wary before you buy any product manufactured by the Harman Specialty Group and I've learnt through experience to be totally dismissive of their tall claims about warranty and support service.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RXV 1070, DSP A1, RXV-2500. Stellar performances from all of them. Wish I had gone for the Yamaha RXZ-9 or Denon AVR 4608/AVC A11 XV

Outstanding sound and build quality

FM tuner extremely slow in changing stations. Very long "Power up" time Expensive, but maybe not when compared to many separates

Although expensive, this is one great receiver. The sound of the RV-8 is superb, by far exceding the sound quality of the separates it replaced (Lexicon DC1+Sunfire amps). It contains an abundance of digital and analogue audio inputs as well as composite, component, and s-video video inputs and includes a component video switcher. The RV-8 features all the processing formats currently available and many that are proprietary to Lexicon (all can be customized to suit your tastes). There is plenty of power to drive the M&Ks' 4 ohm load cleanly at all volume levels. The unit sounds great for both music and movies. The only negatives include a very long "power up" sequence and a sluggishness in changing stations on the built in tuner.