Need opinions on pristine Lexicon CP-3...

tensleep

Addicted Member
... to use as a stereo preamp. It has both remotes with it. I realize that this is primarily a surround processor, but do any of you have experience with it as a stereo preamp? I need one (a preamp) and this one fits the budget.
 
A discussion of the CP-3 on ANOTHER forum:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48864

The money quote:

"Settle down, guys. . . by popular demand, here's my review of the Lexicon CP-3 as a preamp:

When run as a standalone preamp with no processing, FX, etc., the sound is listenable, but not what I would consider my cup of tea. Good low-end, but not enough slam, or high end for me.

But, when I hooked it up from CDP to B&K Preamp to Lexicon, to Amp, it sounded great. So, basically, I spent a very little amount of money to take up space on my rack and use more power to add remote functionality and a cool looking component to my collection.

Everyone go get one now. . ."
 
Old post follow up on Lexicon CP-3 (SLEEPER)

:music:I enjoy the heck out of my system and the full control of speaker set up and volume of all my amplifiers running off my CP-3 Lexicon. as a music pre-amp in it's (FULL RANGE) listening mode, it sounds great to my ears. A real sleeper if used for music as it is a older unit missing most modern surround functions but hay, they go on E-Pay all day long for less then a hundred bucks. A lot of bang for the bucks shelled out. (make sure you buy one with both remote controls). :thmbsp:
 
Old post follow up on Lexicon CP-3 (SLEEPER)

:music:I enjoy the heck out of my system and the full control of speaker set up and volume of all my amplifiers running off my CP-3 Lexicon. as a music pre-amp in it's (FULL RANGE) listening mode, it sounds great to my ears. A real sleeper if used for music as it is a older unit missing most modern surround functions but hay, they go on E-Pay all day long for less then a hundred bucks. A lot of bang for the bucks shelled out. (make sure you buy one with both remote controls). :thmbsp:
 
Anyone know how this compares to the cp2 as stereo preamp and if it's kind of useless without the original remote as my cp2 won't give me stereo bypass/ multichannel without the remote and I can't seem to even get my harmony 990 to work with it.
 
Anyone know how this compares to the cp2 as stereo preamp and if it's kind of useless without the original remote as my cp2 won't give me stereo bypass/ multichannel without the remote and I can't seem to even get my harmony 990 to work with it.
 
And I just got a cp-3. Also not functional without the original remote. Even have a Harmony upper end remote here that I have been able to get most functions on the cp3 to work but apparently not all as I still can't get a peep out of it. I was excited to find in the manual that mute effects was the way to two channel stereo but still no dice. Unless the one I have is a dud I can safely say lexicon + no original remote = useless. Shame.
 
years ago when setting up a 2 channel system, i never could get my CP-3 to do pure stereo, apparently it's just not made to do that.

in the troubleshooting section of the user manual there is this:

"Muffled sound in L&R channels : When no center channel is used, CENTER must be configured for NONE in the Configuration menu."

this still did not result in a clean 2 channel sound.

ended up replacing it with a Proceed AVP which i still use to this day. the CP-3 is in a box.
 
I think it will do a bypass. I can't remember if it has multichannel inputs but that would do it. That original remote and even a monitor for on screen display seem to be almost a necessity for these units. I pressed every combination of front panel buttons and realized user friendly is not a strong suit here.
Even a newer outlaw preamp only could access multichannel inputs using the button on the remote,period. Pretty stupid.
 
Ok, so just an update. Have not figured out the CP2 yet as it still responds not without original remote. The CP3 however i have been able to listen to it using as previous poster mentioned the full range option under what they call a program choice which actually has a button on the front face. Novel. So after decoding Lexicon speak and assuming I am in bypass mode of sorts..not knowing if it's direct or running through the A/D-D/A conversion process..
It sounds ok. More on that later but not bad looking with its little level meters, well made, cheap on the used market and nice to finally have found the not so necessary remote for this unit.
 
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