Nakamichi decks- the best and the worst ?

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Not sure the point of this other than some trolling from a low post count member. As zedex said, don't like 'em, don't buy one. Try buying a car that's sat unused for 20 years and tell me how no repairs are needed to get it working again. And if you're spending $2,000 on a working Dragon, you're getting got.
 
I absolutely love my Dragon. Recently fixed a couple of things on it myself after getting a quote of "waiting time is 8 months,cost is $850, and time in shop about one month" from a guy within driving distance. I fixed the NAAC, replaced a belt, lubed 2 items and she sounds great. I like recording LP's and CD's to tape so that I get to listen only to the songs that I like. Sound quality is so good, it's not like I'm listening to noticeably inferior sound.

Don't mean to hijack the OP's thread, but what symptoms were exhibited from your Dragon that required you to fix the NAAC ?
I've had my Dragon for a few years and have had it storage during this time. I did buy it with a known issue and that issue was the sound output had a low muffled tone to it.
Seeing this thread has made me sit up and take notes now and have always wondered if my NAAC system is faulty or does it have orange cap disease... ???
Is the NAAC system such that it is fixable to a point or in some cases will it require replacing ? I really don't know much about the internals on this machine, but I'd love to get it sorted one day.
 
Don't mean to hijack the OP's thread, but what symptoms were exhibited from your Dragon that required you to fix the NAAC ?
I've had my Dragon for a few years and have had it storage during this time. I did buy it with a known issue and that issue was the sound output had a low muffled tone to it.
Seeing this thread has made me sit up and take notes now and have always wondered if my NAAC system is faulty or does it have orange cap disease... ???
Is the NAAC system such that it is fixable to a point or in some cases will it require replacing ? I really don't know much about the internals on this machine, but I'd love to get it sorted one day.

The NAAC was frozen--the nylon gear was "glued" to the shaft by the hardened grease. Not only did it not operate the azimuth, it kept running whenever the door was open--it was quite audible.

With the help of tapeheads members, I was able to extricate the unit from the chassis, fix it with the correct lube and it is working like a champ.
 
I have several and virtually no problems. There's been a belt or idler tire replaced a couple times and one transistor once but that's all.

Maybe when they were new the majority of people couldn't afford them so now they can after they're 20 or 30 years old so then they're in need of some maintenance.

There was something about frequency response curves between older and newer such as IEC1 and IEC2? Not sure if my lingo is correct so someone that knows more about that can explain.

Bob
 
That's like saying, "I go on these vintage European car forums, and all I see is expensive, old over-priced Porsches being discussed."

Never mind that more Porsches are still on the road than any other car, or that they are a fine vehical.

The reason you see them discussed the most, is that they are the most worth preserving, and the best decks made.

Many others are long ago e-waste, as they are not worth the time or effort or cost.

Because many were so expensive at the time, people held on to them- even if they didn't work.

Finally, any piece of 40 year old electronic and mechanical gear, is going to need some TLC.
 
you can't judge by the complaints. that's all you will see and hear.



locally in the bay area, the dragons (working) go for about $500 and about $500 to do some
restoration
- so its not 2K. not yet anyway - maybe when the TOTL Pioneer/Marantz
receivers hit 10K then 2K would be a bargain.

.

Don't know how you came up with those prices. Willy is in the Bay Area and he quoted me $850 minimum, along with an 8-month wait for service.

3 weeks ago, there was a craigslist ad for a dragon for $1750 in Oklahoma City.

So, how do you come up with $500?
 
$500 to do some restoration. Your $850 is from a great guy who is also on the expensive side,
there are many others.

also, the dragon was much later than even the high-end 6xx line (not the 600).

I have a friend who buys these things in the bay area. he picked up two in recent years
for $500. and both are in working condition. and the $500 extra was to tune it to specs
and NOT to repair a broken Dragon.

$1750 for a Dragon (working? tuned by WH? warrantied by ESL?) in OC? how many were
sold there that this example is even offered for that much.

for $1750 you can buy a RT ticket to HK, Tokyo, and get one in good-to-great working condition.
the HK have the dual voltage selector in the back.

the bay area is full of well-to-do to RICH people who throw money at it since they don't
suffer bad winters. Dragons come up all the time. and many times, you call a guy selling
one or more (amps, preamps, TTs, decks) and he has others in the back. and when you're
both in the computer business, find out you have common friends, then he offers
you something else.

the friend who got a dragon found the CL offering a denon, then bought it and the unadvertised dragon.

sometimes there's a lot and not stated is a great deal - like an SP10 with the obsidian base.

I am sure that somewhere there's someone asking 10K for a TOTL Marantz/Pioneer
receiver and it will be used to deny the possibility of finding the same for $500. same
for Dragons.

the friend is a flipper and if you wish to offer $1k for his $500 Dragon I can connect the two
of you. better if you're in the bay area - he doesn't deliver or ship.
 
I would love to be able to get anther working dragon for $500!! I've never seen any advertised so cheaply.

Do you have the names and contact info of reputable techs in the Bay Area, or anywhere else in the US, for that matter. that repairs Dragons at a far lower price than $850?
 
try tapeheads, naktalk as sites. they are well known at these sites and you can "see"
their work, contact them and work with them. I probably shouldn't name them here.

really depends on what's wrong - lightly used NAKs may only need a minimum of work
to bring the electronics back into spec. Heavily used NAKs may need new heads,
replacement parts in the drive mechanism. not all NAKs suffer from the orange cap
disease.

do keep in mind that you are paying part of the price for all the NAK diagnostic
and alignment tapes that began their incredible price increases about twenty
years ago - after NAK went out of business.

the good news is that there are enough units, parts, and expertise to keep
these machines going for a long time.

a long time ago, I used to buy all the "broken" NAKs off the bay area CL,
tape wouldn't move due to the idler arm. fixed it with a new tire (bought
packet of 10 from MCM for chump change) and gave them away with
tapes that then you could find 10 for a dollar. nowadays both have gone up

do note that there other NAKs equally good that will cost less than a Dragon,
and that, in my opinion, the 6x0 line is best for recording (recording calibration)
and the dragon is good for playback (playback optimization) - together is good
or use a 6x0 for recording and playback.

good luck. and when you get your NAK/dragon, you can really enjoy the music.
 
$500 is RX-505 range, working Dragon for that price in my area (not a chance).
 
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I have a Dragon and RX-505, both refurb'd by one of the guys on tapeheads, both in perfect working order, both well under $800.
 
I bought a Nakamichi 500 new back in the day. It was such a piece of crap that Magnolia Hi-Fi took it back and let me step up to the 600. That one was not much better but was "good enough". Neither one was physically defective. They just didn't sound very good.

I replaced the 600 with a Denon that sounded incredible, but picked up a squeal in the "clutch" bushing in the takeup reel spindle.

I bought a beautiful, "like new" Nakamichi 505 auto reverse deck at an estate sale about 8 years ago simply because it was only $5. However, it had what was apparently a "flat spot" in the motor driving the takeup reel. that caused it to tell the machine that the tape had stopped and would keep shutting itself off after playing for ten seconds or so. I thought about fixing it because it was a very cool deck (the cassette physically flipped around to reverse) but decided it wasn't worth it and I needed to move on, so I threw it in the goodwill pile.

My Pioneer CT-F1250 broke it's left capstan drive belt, but I'm NOT getting rid of that deck. ;)

I think of Nakamichi's as the "Lamborgini's" of tape decks. They are cool. They are expensive. They turn heads. They handle great. But they are not daily drivers for "sub-billionaires".
 
I don't care about turning heads, but I do love that my Dragon makes tapes that don't sound like tapes. :) They sound very close to the original source.
 
the bay area has been home to high-tech since the 1960s - over 50 years of high-tech
salaries, and homes crossing 500K before the mid-1980s, and IPOs worth trillions
making CEOs billionaires, and most of the employees big bucks. I know families
with 3 generations in high tech. they don't live in rentals/condos like the rest of us.

yes, you can always find someone selling a low-end or cute NAK for higher $$$
since he's not comparing sales in a state one-to-three timezones away. he's
checking the high-water mark on ebay, Naktalk, tapeheads, etc. he hasn't
checked bay area pricing nor does he care to. don't believe me? ask him.

maybe lets ask those who own NAKs of all types, what they paid, what they
paid someone to tune/fix and when this was. you can check the naktalk
archives and the tapeheads threads. finding someone in the US selling
a NAK for some high price and posting it here doesn't mean I can no longer
find cheapy NAKs for a song because the owner/heir decides to dump
for retirement purposes or due to inheritance and has no interest in cassettes.

there is a side note to being a NAK owner. There are NAK-branded tapes to
be used on these treasures and they have skyrocketed past the NAK units.
I sold off all my NAK metal tapes about 20 years ago. even the NOS metal
tapes are now going way up in price. last I looked metal 90s were $15 each.
and the remotes are following.

and most NAKs specify their incredible frequency ranges based on these metal tapes.
so, it's hard for me to tell folks that the NAK-acquisition disease only begins with
buying a dragon and be prepared to serve the addiction. but the rewards is
that years/decades later that TOTL NAK rises in price along with the TOTL
Marantz/Pioneer (and the G33000) to well beyond 5 figures.

I'm down to one NAK. boo-hoo. but I now enjoy the music.
 
I'm a member of that as well. I haven't seen a list of guys doing that work.
I don't know if a list exists but the good ones I know of are Perry, Nakmandan, Nakdoc and Tapetech. All of then extremely competent. There are others.
 
i have a NAK that seems to be a "step child, so to speak"...its a 3 head DR10..bought new when they were closing the Nakamichi Store in Manhattan for not much money....always loved the deck....but is it considered a "real" Nak??...never read of any Nak owners & /or lovers using this machine?
 
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