Lexicon Model 92 Delta-T
Lexicon's compact digital delay for the smaller room - two outputs, 120 ms apiece, and the same floating-point encoding as its big brothers.
Overview
Lexicon's Delta-T line was built on the company's proprietary floating point digital encoding. The Model 92 is the version Lexicon aimed at the modest installation: churches, school auditoriums, hotels, theaters, clubs. These are places where a sound reinforcement system needs multiple loudspeakers synchronized but the budget does not run to a full 102. Lexicon's own advertising copy of the period pitched the 92 as delivering "the same unsurpassed audio quality and performance reliability that have made Delta-T the standard of the industry" at a price competitive with even run-of-the-mill systems.
The architecture is straightforward. One input, two outputs, each with its own delay adjustable up to 120 ms via a single front-panel knob. That's the whole idea: two independent taps, so a delayed loudspeaker cluster or a pair of fill speakers can be time-aligned to the mains, or a studio can pull doubling and echo send off the same box. Modern Recording (October 1977, p.73) described it as a "compact, lower-cost application of larger and costlier Delta-T systems," intended for sound reinforcement and studio/live recording work. It also noted the large stepped knobs that make the delay times repeatable rather than guesswork.
The numbers hold up. Lexicon's literature quotes dynamic range better than 90 dB, with a typical figure of 95 dB; noise and distortion under 0.1% at 1 kHz reference limit level. Frequency response is specified at 20 Hz to 12 kHz, +1/−2 dB, measured 14 dB below limit level — a bandwidth that reflects the 92's role as a delay line rather than a full-range processor, and one that's entirely adequate for the synchronization and doubling duties it was sold to perform. The floating-point encoding is what buys that dynamic range in a box at this price point, and it's the same engineering philosophy that ran up the Delta-T ladder.
Lexicon didn't skimp on the practical stuff. Audio input and output transformers are standard, as is an automatic fail-safe audio bypass. If the unit goes down, signal still passes, which counts in a church or a club where the delay is part of the house system. Silent power-up and power-down circuitry avoids thumps. Rear-mounted XLR-3 connectors handle I/O, and input and output levels are adjustable from the front panel. A five-position LED headroom indicator, calibrated in 10 dB increments below limiting, lets an installer verify levels without hauling out test gear.
Power is universal: 115/230 V, 50/60 Hz, with international connectors and a detachable cord. The unit is designed for rack mounting and takes up just 3½ inches of panel space. It weighs eight and one-half pounds, and Lexicon's copy notes it can be installed permanently or carried from one location to another. Construction is all solid state, using MOS-RAM memory and low-power Schottky IC logic. The memory and audio subsystems are plug-in modules, so field maintenance doesn't require shipping the whole box back.
Lexicon announced the Model 92 at a net professional price of $1,560, positioned as a low-cost entry into the Delta-T family for small installations. The company later cut prices across the Delta-T 102 line by up to 23 percent, a move president Ron Noonan attributed to production cost savings from higher sales volume. The 92's $1,560 stayed the budget anchor of the range, well under the $4,700 net professional price of a typical stereo 102 studio configuration. Lexicon's launch announcement put the complete system price "well under $2,000," which is the number most contemporary buyers would have seen.
Reception treated it as a working tool, not a flagship. Modern Recording (October 1977, p.73) covered it as a general description piece rather than a bench test, framing it as the compact, lower-cost Delta-T for reinforcement and studio/live work. A Puk Studios equipment summary from the period lists a "Lexicon model 92 delay" alongside an EMT 251, a Klark-Teknik DN780, an AMS RMX-16, a Lexicon 224XL, and a pair of AMS DMX-1580s. That's a serious outboard rack. Pat Metheny's rig, in Lexicon's own advertising, ran a Model 92 alongside a pair of Prime Times and a 224 digital reverb.
For anyone hunting one today, the appeal is the same as in 1977: two clean, adjustable delay taps with transformer-balanced I/O, a fail-safe bypass, and Lexicon's floating-point conversion in a 3½-inch rack space. The caveats are the usual ones for gear of this vintage. The 12 kHz upper limit is real and audible on full-range material, so the 92 is a delay, not a reverb substitute. The plug-in memory and audio modules are the service points, and a unit that's been sitting unpowered for years should be checked before it goes into a live system. Transformer-coupled I/O and XLR-3 connectors mean it plays nicely with professional gear, but it is not a consumer-friendly box. It wants a rack and a balanced signal chain.
The Model 92 doesn't get the attention of the 102 or the Prime Time. It was built to solve a specific problem in a specific size of room.
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.