Tape Trail Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats.

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Re: Get a Dragon. It's a no-brainer.

Posted by Barry Rogoff (A) on October 30, 2005 at 10:59:54

In Reply to: Re: Get a Dragon. It's a no-brainer. posted by kingseiko on October 30, 2005 at 09:32:35:

> ...if the adjustment cannot be optimized for that tape, the NAAC will still stop after 10 to 15 seconds... Of course, having something is still better than nothing !!

If I understand you correctly, the deck tries to adjust the azimuth for a maximum of 10 to 15 seconds, then gives up. As you say, that's still WAY better than no azimuth adjustment at all! I suspect that it doesn't give up very often and that takes a pretty bad tape to make it give up. Do you know how to tell when that happens?

> I do not know what is your standard on "MINT".

Fortunately for us, there were quite a few people who bought Dragons and hardly used them. Over the years, I've met several audiophiles who invest huge amounts of money in state-of-the-art equipment and hardly ever use it. Those people love technology much more than they love music. They get a lot of satisfaction from simply owning a masterpiece of engineering.

Those "mint" decks appear on eBay now and then and are often described as "new." I've been watching them on and off for years and I've never seen one sell for more than $900. For example, one that was "used to record a handful of cassettes" recently sold for $760.

> How many times you see a DRAGON for sale that comes with recent service receipts for less than $1000?

I've seen some that did but unfortunately, eBay keeps only a limited history of transactions so I can't provide an example.

> Ask Jeff Gatlin of ESL how much does it cost to overhaul a DRAGON.

The last time I talked to Jeff, his policy was to charge a fixed amount for evaluation, which was deductable from the final cost. The actual cost depends on the parts and labor.

I don't know what he charges to overhaul a Dragon in mint condition because I've never needed to have it done. Have you?

When I bought my Dragon, I tested it by recording Mobile Fidelity audiophile CDs played on a high-end CD player. It did well enough so that no one, including people with trained ears, could tell the tape from the source.

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Kimber Kable

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