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Re: Buy a Nak or not?

Posted by Tapin Fool (A) on November 3, 2005 at 17:35:53

In Reply to: Buy a Nak or not? posted by Brian L on October 28, 2005 at 13:44:11:

If you have a bunch of pre-recorded tapes, a Dragon is the way to go, hands down. Absolutely fantastic, and some of the later model pre-recorded tapes on Chrome with HX Pro sound damn near as good as a CD. And they cost like a buck. Nakamichi didn't use HX Pro for recording because they didn't see the need. A 3-head Nak will record as good or better than just about anything out there save possibly some of the very hi-end dbx or Dolby S machines which cost even more than Dragon. Maintenance is an issue, luckily I have a local guy who has worked on lots of Nakamichi stuff since we used to have an authorized dealer. Totally cleanded and calibrated my Dragon, replaced a belt, fixed the auto-reverse and put in a back light for $120. Did the same clean/calibration and gear upgrade to my CR-5 for $140. Call around to local repairmen, if they've been in business a while, you may get lucky.

The Dragon on playback and record does beat my CR-5 (basically a CR-7 without the Auto Tape Calib. and Azimuth adjust, which are biggies). I had a Yamaha KX-690 (Dolby S, 3-head, Play Trim, 3-head, 3-motor) and while it was excellent, it was nowhere near the Dragon, although it was close to the CR-5. It was much cheaper though, although they are rare as hens teeth.

The "big-time" decks, Naks, Revox, Sony ES, a few Teacs and Onkyos are all going to cost some coin, so if you want a Dragon or CR-7 (which are much more common) just keep an eye out. Sometimes one will fall through the cracks cheap.

The Dragon's auto-azimuth will also get the most out of your "Dolbized" tapes. Also have never heard any negative aspects of using Dolby vs non-Dolby on my Naks. Nak actually did Dolby right unlike the vast majority of low and mid level decks.

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