I have a lot of hands-on with the Lex, none with the Classe. I don't think anybody does HT better than Lexicon. I think Lexicon does derived surround sound from stereo sources as well or better than anybody - that may or may not have any value to you, but many who own a Lex value that capability. I didn't listen to music that way, but value music reproduction highly in my dual-purpose system, and found the MC-1 to be at least very good for music. General comments on the Classe line of pre/pros is that they're a notch ahead of many other lines for two-channel reproduction.
If you go for a used MC-1, be sure that you either get one that hasn't been traded in for a new model (Lex is great on the trade up programs) or that the price you pay reflects the fact that it has been traded in already.
If you go for a used MC-1, be sure that you either get one that hasn't been traded in for a new model (Lex is great on the trade up programs) or that the price you pay reflects the fact that it has been traded in already.