I've acquired recently a legendary Dragon. I'm so excited about it; it's a dream deck.

This is a photo I've taken the same moment I was unboxing it:

It is in 9,5/10 cosmetic condition and 10/10 working condition. I bought it from a british seller who explained me that he took it to service to Nakamichi's official service: Bowers&Wilkins.
After learn to calibrate tapes I can say that it sounds like being in heaven. Really impressive.

One of the particularities of this deck is that it has unique black side cheecks of lacquered wood:

They are really beautiful:

It's probably the world's unique Dragon to have them. Maybe... Another of it's particularities is the extremely low serial number: just the 96 (I suppose the "1000" after doesn't count):

After calibrating some of my tapes I can say it's the only deck to surpass my loved 'Super-D6C' in terms of frequency response curve (FRC) in general terms.
But I found that my D6C still surpass the Dragon in a few areas: it offers better reproduction when playing in a Walkman.

I mean: playing in the same deck where it was recorded, both are extraordinary. But playing in another walkman, the D6C is better (shows better FRC). Not only that, the encoded Dolby C is slightly better too in a walkman.

The third particularity of my Dragon is that I started to mod it cosmetically so it helps me when I'm calibrating tapes. First I add a very small triangle to the calibration knobs:

But finally I decided to add scales too. So I took measurements, draw scales and print them in photo quality stikers, and that's the result of that:

Cool, huh? 

hope you like it. Please show your deck!

Interesting mod Hugo. The photo quality stickers...how did you make those?

Congratulations Hugo, it's amazing how the deck look so classical in its design. Really a piece of masterpiece. May I know whether the auto reverse is tape head rotation or tape rotation? If I remember well Nakamichi offers tape rotation auto reverse, the entire tape deck actually slide out and rotate the tape to the reverse side before retract back to its position.

Hi Nak,

Well, I took measurements, draw them using Illustrator (a professional drawing software) and printed them in adhesive photo paper with my home inkjet (very standard one).

I love the result. I think it is worth the efforts :-)

Thanks Ken,

I think the Dragon does not rotate either the tape or the head, but has a 4-track head. the recording function only works in normal direction, not in reverse. But any of the experts in that area could confirm that.

Dragons only records in forward direction, not reverse. Nice to see you bought one, as it consider one of the best. Where did you get those side panels?

Absolutely beautiful machine. If I remember correctly, the Dragon resets its head back to its "default" azimuth when recording, and uses NAAC to correct any perceived azimuth errors in playback in both directions.

Hello,

The machine that you are thinking of is the RX202,303 and 505. All three share the tape rotation mechanism so that with either 2 or 3 heads you can record in either direction with no azimuth (head alignment) errors. Both the Dragon and RX machines offer unique solutions to the auto reverse problem and I am lucky enough to have a Dragon and an RX505. They are both awesome and sound quite similar; the Dragon has the added bonus of being able to adjust its head alignment automatically to suit any tape, no matter where it was recorded.

RX series, (202, 303, 505).

Actually the first manufacturer that does the tape rotation method was Akai back in 1972. Here is proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4MYLWDKPlE

Nakamichi just sort of copied that exact method, only Nak are front loading, Akai was top loading due to the time in cassette decks style.

Congrats on the Dragon Hugo....

The Rolls Royce of decks...

Yes, it's one of the best if not the best one. The seller made those panels and included them in the auction. I'm so happy to have them...

Thanks bub! Yeah, it works like that. The NAAC works when play and when recording it adjusts to the default position

love the way the akai loads its tape

Beautuful deck Hugo, congrats.

Yes, the tape rotating decks are those three. They are lovely indeed, one of my favorites. I have a rx505 too but now it's at Dr Walkman' lab, being adjusted and improved.

Wow, interesting find. And very nice deck!

Superb Audio deck very much high quality,i use Vintage Sansui component's with classic JBL 12inch speakers and Teac spectrum anylizer i have a nice audio deck but not your's brother.great purchase!