Nakamichi 1000 ll

Dirk Willims

Active Member
well I just got played. I purchased what I thought was a Dragon last Tuesday. Turns out it's a 1000 II . I'm a bit embarrassed but thought I should seek assistance on how I should respond.

What do I have? Is it worth the money I paid, or did I get hosed. How does the 1000 compare with the Dragon. Bottom line I paid the going price for a dragon, and ended up with this 1000 II. The seller marketed this unit to me as a Dragon.

The good news is its in killer shape, sounds good, the wood and face is fantastic shape.

Should I insist on money back. Did I Cut a good deal.

End of the day, the buck stops here, my fault, my responsibility. I was counting on some intellectual honesty from the seller.

The good news is I know where he lives. I got zero problems with taking care of business.

Again I just don't know enough to understand did I fall into a honey hole, or did I step in a pile of poo.

I honestly don't know how to react.

Dirk Williams
 
The 1000 II is a stellar cassette deck and arguably the best Nakamichi of its time. I would take one over a Dragon in a heartbeat. YMMV but I think you got the best of the deal. On the downside, the relative rarity of the 1000 II might make necessary repairs and/or parts hard to find.
 
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The biggest thing IMHO is that it hasn't been missed with by non authorized people. Naks need specialized alignment jigs for service/repair. As a past authorized Nak service center, I saw my share of missed up decks by people that didn't understand Nak's way of doing things. The 1000ll is a fine deck and probably one of the best sounding ones. One of the big sales points of the Dragon, is the auto azimuth on the playback head, which allows the highest quality of playback of non Nak recorded tapes. But for most people that record their own tapes not a big deal. I am lucky to have both and they are great decks, but the 1000 is just cool and nothing else looks like it ( makes a statement in the cabinet).
 
The biggest thing IMHO is that it hasn't been missed with by non authorized people. Naks need specialized alignment jigs for service/repair. As a past authorized Nak service center, I saw my share of missed up decks by people that didn't understand Nak's way of doing things. The 1000ll is a fine deck and probably one of the best sounding ones. One of the big sales points of the Dragon, is the auto azimuth on the playback head, which allows the highest quality of playback of non Nak recorded tapes. But for most people that record their own tapes not a big deal. I am lucky to have both and they are great decks, but the 1000 is just cool and nothing else looks like it ( makes a statement in the cabinet).
I don't record anymore so the NAAC is why I like my Dragon so much. Love to have a 1000 too though.
 
Never was a Nak dealer, Revox, Tandberg and B&O, yes but never Nak. However the 1000 and portable 500 were seminal machines and tough, formidable competition.

Those two tape machines put the high performance cassette deck market on the map. I have a 500 around here somewhere.

I always looked at the dragon as a complicated solution for store bought prerecorded tape playback, I mean the break through for all those dual capstan cassette decks was tensioning the tape via the capstan system.

Obviously the seller was "exuberant" in the product description and should be called out.......even if the 1000 proves to be a better deal.
 
Thanks, I don't feel like I got spankd now. The seller seemed like a really good guy. I'll do my home work next time. The down side, is this things sooo big, it won't fit in any of my stereo cabinets.

Thanks for your replies.

Dirk
 
the 1000II is a great machine. don't be fooled by the hype of the Dragon. I heard one during
it's heyday and thought the 6xx (not the 600) series was the best.

in fact Dragons are not that rare, 1000II are, and the magic is in the name. I get accused of
meddling with Einstein's constants when I tell folks that in California, the 3 area codes
defining silicone valley, there are probably hundreds. and you can find them everywhere
but not the 1000II.

mount a tape and enjoy the music!
 
Thanks, I don't feel like I got spankd now. The seller seemed like a really good guy. I'll do my home work next time. The down side, is this things sooo big, it won't fit in any of my stereo cabinets.

Thanks for your replies.

Dirk

It was my understanding back in the day that the typical Nak 1000 buyer was a reel-to-reel afficianado (current or former) who was used to larger decks so its much larger size wasn't a burden.
 
maybe.

having had several R2R (Revox, Sony, B&H, plus others I forget), it wasn' the size,
it was the hassle of threading the tape, moving the reels so the tape doesn't spin loose in
the take-up reel, then rethreading the trailer back onto the original reel to rewind. then
rewinding. and no car service. at least not in the cars I had.

exacerbating the problem was the selection of the model. quarter/half/etc track machines
which would enhance or disable your ability to buy commercially recorded tapes, then the
tape type (that led to oxide shredding and volumes on how to digitize a only-one-pass
possible read), and how to record your records.

then came the cassettes, terrible sound in the first couple of generations (had several
Technics, Pioneer, and Concord) but the convenience was phenomenal. no threading,
no setting equalization, bias, addition of noise reduction, availability of different tape
types, prerecorded chrome tapes with dolby. and compact. compare duration over
volume for LPs, VHS, R2R tapes.

and Nak creates the machines that do it all at the best frequency range.

you can now buy a blue-printed refurbed aligned Dragon for less than its
original retail back 35 years ago. and expect years if not decades of use.

meanwhile those poor but great R2R needs extreme care and expertise but
if it really appeals to you, look at the back advertiser pages of TAS, Stereophile,
and others for latest R2R machines and tapes. be prepared - will cost you
enough to buy the top ten naks of all time.
 
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I'd be inclined to want a discount, as I'm pretty sure Dragons go for more than a 1000 II. And, from what I understand, the 1000 series is even more difficult to service than a Dragon. I know some techs decline working on the 1000 series, so you might want to investigate, as naks are kind of like an Italian sport car- wonderful when working properly, but tend to need a lot of service from a specialist.
 
I'd be inclined to want a discount, as I'm pretty sure Dragons go for more than a 1000 II. And, from what I understand, the 1000 series is even more difficult to service than a Dragon. I know some techs decline working on the 1000 series, so you might want to investigate, as naks are kind of like an Italian sport car- wonderful when working properly, but tend to need a lot of service from a specialist.
I had my Dragon serviced by Willy Hermann several years ago. Willy told me I'd be good for at least 20 more years and so far he's right. I think the biggest cause for trouble in any deck is lack of use. My Dragon gets a couple of hours of playing every week. Willy said people who seldom use their decks should play a tape through it once in a while to keep the moving parts and belts happy.
 
There are a ton of folks who find the 1000 the best recording NAK ever made. The Dragon gets tons of attention, rightfully so, it's playback is legendary (but shares PB components with other NAK's there are way cheaper).
 
What a long strange trip this has been. So after purchasing the 1000ii I did the reverse research, I've think I've read literally everything printed about the 1000ii. The gentleman I purchased the unit from, was just good people, I've realized that neither of us were really up to speed on this unit. It's capabilities, the sheer classy ness of the 1000ii is just bitchen.

We just got back from the REO Speedway show in Reno Nv, my son was here using the unit to record. His 30 something yr old crew had to come over just to see this monster, and understand the quality of the build.

I'll use it until one of my children receive's it as a gift after I'm off to Valhalla.

Thank you all for sharing your wisdom, and knowledge.

Dirk Williams
 
A dragon has some autodeck features a 1000 doesn't have and it doesn't have the advanced noise reduction of a Dragon, but that said a 1000 II in great working condition is probably one of the top 5 cassette decks you could ever . own. an advanced 682 would probably out perform an 1000 II, but not by much. I don't know if you need the mic inputs, but they are there.
 
Thanks twiiiiii, I'm enjoying the unit very much. Also purchased a Mcintosh 2505 and a mx112, with this unit, haven't even plugged them in, just the1000i. Is up and running. Where I live their are not a lot of stereo folk. So far nobody in my circles has ever seen one, or heard of one.

Dirk
 
My2505 is still running as does so 3 or 4 times a week. All I do to it is clean the controls annually and the switches. I use it to drive a couple pairs of electro static headphones. I also use the head phone jack once in a white, too. I'll just be quiet about the MX 112.
 
Yea, eventually I'll go with a pre amp C26 or better, and a real tuner. Right now I'm just enjoying all my music via tube gear. Although I think I screwed up my quicksilver integrated amp. On the TT selection and the tuner selection, I'm getting music out of only one speaker? Cassette and cd works fine.

The good news is quicksilver is a stand up company, and the units 60/70 days out of the box. Lots of warrantee time left.

It's summer time here, after a-long winter, trying to spend my time sailing, camping, fly fishing until Nov, then it's Stereo build season.

Dirk
 
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