I'm looking for one of these decks to encode some old cassettes of my girlfriends onto her MacBook, and of course listen to them through the Hi-Fi.

If anyone has either of these decks and is close to Aylesbury/Oxford or will to post/deliver please get in touch.

Cheers

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not the best Naks
why not buy a Kenwood KX5010 or Akai GX52 or Yamaha KX580se?

cheaper and all substantially better

Nak recorded tapes only sound good played back on a Nak

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KENW...;hash=item19ce186603

I got two of these

one as a spare in case the other EVER breaks
these are seriously good decks - and will out perform most decks out there for under 100 (todays prices)

They have auto calibration

the L O N G E S T LED VU meters ever

And are superbly built - KENWOOD did NOT build the Kenwood Chef - that's another company

my choice for best decks

money no object would be the Nak ZX7a

but these need loads of fettling and servicing

Reference decks:

Akai GX 95

Pioneer CT 91a

Technics RS 965
Sony TC-K890ES

all these go for around 150-200

other than that - i'm all about the Kenwood KX 5010, Kenwood KX1100 or Technics RS808

these are all subjective - I worked in a high end hifi shop in the late 80's and saw the zenith of decent kit - after that the bean counters came in and think after the mid 90's most mid range analogue stuff is just poop - as Digital was the new cash cow.

you want a deck with dual capstans

and diret drive

the reason some decks are hard to find - people don't want to get  rid of them . . .

only know of the 580se

i'd tread carefully

look for decks with original boxes - this normally means one owner

tape decks are very unforgiving in their reliability

do research - check the interweb

find more than 2 positive reviews

buy the best you can "afford"

thats an OLD deck

http://www.vintagecassette.com/Yamaha/K-1000

i'd be hesitant - but it is a well specc'd deck I'll grant you

 . . .or find a  3 head nak

like the CR4 or 3a

 http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mleone/gdead/taping-guide/part1.html

This 100% true ,  I have owned several including a "Dragon" .  If you want a great deck for recording to playback on other devices I would get a Teac C-3 or a Tascam . There very simple and they have some of the best specs of any tape deck .

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Teac-Tascam-122-MKII-Professional-3-Head-Cassette-Deck-/150768809094?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item231a857486

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TEAC-Professional-Stereo-Tape-Cassette-Deck-C-3-Head-/230649059037?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item35b3c156dd

These are the best built cassette decks for the money .

I have to say I disagree with you on that comment. If the target deck be it Nakamichi or not is setup properly the recording with sound good.

If a tape deck is poorly setup it will not extract as much information as it can. In-fact the only tapes that will sound okay on that poorly setup deck will be the tapes made on that deck, since it make it and can get the info back. An example of one of the issues is Azimuth.

I make loads of tapes for friends which they playback on non-Nakamichi decks which still sounds good.

I record tapes on my CR-7 all the time, which I playback on my Walkmans and they sound just great.

Thanks for all your input, it's been enlightening.

As far as I can discern [I like to simplify things] if I'm looking for a decent cost effective deck then I would be looking at a Yamaha KX580se, however if I want to spend a little more then to look at a Nakamichi?

Yes to keep it simple get a Yamaha, Kenwood or NAD and I would agree with Claret Badger on the CR-4 lovely deck. The CR-4 you can get cheap and the good thing is you can still get parts for them.

The problem with your first choices DR3 or Cassette Deck 1.5 are the DR range were the last lot they made and it was made in China. The DR range were not that good. The Cassette Deck 1.5 is better but not as good as the CR range.

There are some CR decks on ebay, you may get lucky. I have seen CR-4’s and CR-5’s on ebay. If you fancy pushing the boat out go for a CR-5 which is very close to a CR-7 in performance but with no Azimuth correction. The CR-5 is a bargain.

just remembered the Studer/revox is worthy of  a mention

but rare and expensive

get the 5010 - you will not regret it
even inc postage it is less than 40 quid

Yes very much so, Studer parent company of Revox. Me I would pick Studer over Revox.

Adam, I-G-O-R-E everything what 'Claret Badger' told you. If he was a REAL MAN, he would post a REAL NAME with his opinion. NOBODY Knocks a NAK and I mean NOBODY!!!  I own a NAK 'Baby Nak' DR3 which Nakamichi introduced and promptly discontinued because they were losing too much money on them. Check out the SPECS if you think I'm lying. Using crappy 2 head sendust heads, they achieve 3 head specs!!! Technics gear is the eqivilent of Fisher-Price audio (the stuff made for 5 year olds). I've owned Kenwood & Sonys and no, they are not in the same league as a 'Baby Nak'.

They say we are all entombed in the music of our youth and for me, that is the 80s. Not the COMMERCIAL 'Madonna-Jackson' swill but College Radio 80s like 17 Pygmies, the Sound, The Comstat Angels, Pink Turns Blue, The Chameleons, Asylum Party, Adult Net, The Fall, Men Without Hats, The Police, Sisters of Mercy, Souxie & the Banchees, Echo & the Bunnymen, etc.

John Lennon had his Radio Luxemberg in the 50s and I had my Mark Bradley BLACK VINYL & University of California @ Davis TODAY'S ABORATION/TOMORROW'S FASHION. I taped over 200 Maxel UDXLII C90s (I had a horrid Security Job during college guarding trucks which meant I had to pop in a tape and let her run until I got home=45minutes of incredible music).

My 25yr old Hemetrically sealed tapes are played only one every 5 years as Safeties and courtesy of my iPhone 4S, I was able to point, shoot Shazam and identify 50 partial unknown songs (which I promptly downloaded from YouTube).

You want the DR3 (read my review as CPTG). I paid $650 for it new, they are all over the net for $100.00 or less. If you got the money, go with the Pappa Deck (DR1) which has adjustable heads x3. Then convert them to AIFF and store them until you can find a proper YouTube copy floating around.

Also, for approximately $250.00 you can add audiophile sound to your computer/iPhone with AudioQuest's DragonFly USB add on. I am so lusting for it now, it hurts.  Yes, NAK decks are stone cold old (I think they were invented Upper Paleolithic Period but not quite Neolithic) but, think of the prestege you'll have owning one. What would you rather leave your grandkids---a genuine Victrolla or a knock off Philco?!!!

I hate to correct you, but your wrong in some areas and never good to personally attack someone, it's just a matter of opinion. Thoses are not bad for the price and highly recommended for that reason and are better then baby Nak's. Yes it is facted that some Nak two head decks models did beat out most three head deck offer by other manufacturers, but not all!

Akai GX 95

Pioneer CT 91a

Technics RS 965 "This is one of their best efforts". 

Sony TC-K890ES

Best Non-Nakamichi decks are  

JVC DD-9 "This is the most unrated deck I fixed, but is a great deck"

Sony TC-K950ES

Sony TC-K990ES "My new main active deck beside dragon"

Sony TC-KA7ES

Pioneer CT-93

Aiwa XK-007

Revox B215 Built like tank and true 4 motors direct drive

Tangberg 3014 Best built deck seen

As far as Nakamichi decks goes

1000ZXL "Great over all deck"  

Dragon "Best playback deck and true direct capstan drive, better classic transport."

ZX9 "Best recording deck, even nakamichi use these as a reference deck."

680zx

CR7 Hate this deck, as nakamichi was cost cutting, by using a cheaper Sankyo transport and motors that prone to dead spots and no cue and not true direct drive capstan, as other flywheel is driven by belt from first flywheel. Does sounds great and some prefer over Dragon and easier to setup for recording. Easier to service for the most part and parts are easy to come by.

The other thing to you have to consider is that most decks are going to need to be serviced to be bought back up within specs, as capacitors and components age and is no longer within tolerance, plus needs mechanical alignments and parts replaced as they are worn, rubber parts replaced and heads wear out.

If you can afford it and want the best, go for a Nakamichi dragon and also set money aside to have it restore and get a good outboard processor for noise reduction. But without the deck being restored, then it really doesn't matter, as it going to preform like crap.  

Never download songs from Youtube due to compression, which means sounds bad, as will sound muffled and rolled off on HF, plus you are violating copyright laws. Only use lossless format if digital, if analog LP is the best, with a decent turntable, or reel to reel.

As far as audio interface, if you record to harddrive, won't recommend AudioQuest's DragonFly USB, it way overpriced for what it is, unless you only use a laptop. If you use a workstation you might as well go with a firewire interface due to "dedicated bus", even thus USB is suppose to be by specs faster, it not, as it shared across other components. Use brands like Focusrite, Apogee. The reason is latency is low, pre-amps don't color the sound and are quite, firewire models are better. If you want a DAC instead due to look, go with Cambridge dacmagic, is best bet.

If you did get a firewire model, check to make sure firewire controller chipset is supported.  

Never go with a internal soundcard, like X-FI as RF noise and have high latency and poorly writen drivers. 

Michael Goncalves

What is your real name? - cos Michael Goncalves sounds made up!

I wanna see copies of birth certificates, mothers maiden name and bank details

"Technics gear is the eqivilent of Fisher-Price audio (the stuff made for 5 year olds). I've owned Kenwood & Sonys and no, they are not in the same league as a 'Baby Nak"

Au contraire the gear i mentioned is very much acceptable - you're saying that the industrial giant that is Matsushita just pumped out turkeys?

go to the tapeheads website and get some education

the rest of your posting reads like a "bot" posted it not a real human - so I'm calling BS on your hermapathically, cyro frozen magento tape cartridges.

You dont know who I am - but I am getting the agenices to trace you down now just so i can pop around your house and laugh at your bed sheets

btw

I have a CR3

I hope I have your attention now just so i can show you my buttocks

hi retrodos,

i didn't know the sony tc-ka9es existed.

can you place a photo of it?

Meant KA990ES, reason why I did it in order.

I meant KA990ES, no their is no kA9

ach so,

i've read the topic on audiokarma, interesting.

prefer the 80's decks, those have the looks..

Hi,

I was into the same question for a while. There are different kind of decks: two head, three head, double deck...

If you don't want to deal with many settings and also don't want the most exquisite quality, a good 2-head deck will be fine for you.

But if you want to make excellent recordings, but also have to learn how to set up the deck for every kind of tape, then a 3-head will be the best choice.

I have some Naks ( a Dragon, a BX150, a RX505), two small decks (Marantz 430 and SONY D5ProII) and an excellent modded D6C... and  a lot of walkmans, from decent ones to the best ones.

I can tell you that 70% of the audio quality perceived while listening in a walkman is in the quality of the recording -> reason why it's important to have an excellent 3-head deck.

 I'd recommend you an AKAI GX95 or someting similar, which is a full featured 3-head deck that you can buy without empying the pocket (about 200 euros).

Obviously, no walkman can play at the same quality level of one of this decks (except a very few), but that doesn't mean that itsn't worth to buy a good deck.
What I experienced is that there's a big difference in Dolby performance with walkmans, but without Dolby they all perform very well with a good recording. 

I think you should consider something a little newer and more reliable then any of these decks . Tascam has been building the best proffesional cassette decks for well over 30 years and none of these decks are going to be very reliable or in good condition after 20-30 years of use . You can buy an awesome brand new Tascam for a very reasonable price :

TASCAM CC-222SLmkII Slot-loading CD & Cassette Recorder 373.00 bucks on Amazon or BHPhoto.

Michael, check out forum rules. No one can ask anyone to show his real name. Everyone is free to use a nickname if he wants to, and that's nothing bad at all.

We understand that you love Nakamichi but saying that Technics gear is like "fisher-price" is putting at a medium-beginner level. People that states that any XXX brand (well known and respected) is like crap is usually showing their big lack of knowledge in that area.

You need belt-drive turntables to achieve good sound, they have the lowest rumble but higher wow and flutter. There is a compromise with either noise or speed. Reel to Reel starts sounding good at 7.5ips or above. Vinyl only starts to sound good with 45rpm. LPs sound crappier (33rpm)

You can only make such comments if you have never heard a good turntable.

Checkout Grand Prix Audio – Monaco turntable

Try some 33rpm recordings from the Stax record label

FYI I have heard good turntables. Only MFSL 33rpm sounds quite good for 33, but 45 still will have the advantage over 33 in sound. Just the same comparing 3.75 to 7.5. Belt drives are the good (totl) ones, then direct drive and last idler drive.

 Michael Goncalves; I appreciate your passion for Nakamichi's but I don't appreciate you being rude to the badger! If you show due respect for the people here you will get a lot from this forum!