How many of you have a Nakamichi CD player?

Do you own a Nakamichi CD player?


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    466
used to owned OM-4 but sold 2 years back. Now got MB-10 5 disc changer.

I just picked up a Nak MB-2. It's real nice, great sound. I love the changer mech. Compared to the Pioneer PD-M430 I was using before, the Nak has more punch and the range seems more extended.

How do you like that MB-10? What Dacs are in those?
 
I note that this thread really has legs. Not a bad thing, really.

I have an OMS-7 which I rescued from going to the dump because it "had not worked since it was a year old". It had apparently spent a couple of decades in a closet (in hope of healing itself?). After some investigation it turned out that the parameters for CD production shifted early on and the OMS-7 needed to have "some" changes made to them to accommodate the lower quality production and this one had not had that done. I had a tech friend do most of the upgrade/adjustments to it and it plays most CDs just fine, but it still rejects a certain proportion. I gather that if the last stage of the changes are made it will read pretty much anything, but that is hearsay. I haven't managed to talk him into doing more work on it unfortunately.

I'm wondering if anyone who has an OMS-7 (Avionic?) could give advice here and also if anyone has experience doing this particular bit of service? I have all of the manuals. Wow, it took me almost an hour just to read through!

Having said that I really love the sound of this machine. It may lack quite the resolution of some of the latest (given really early vintage DACs) but it more than makes up for it with a gorgeous, analogue-like sound. There are an amazing number of discrete components in this one.
 
Thread inspired me to grab a CD Player 4 at a local shop. Very bright presentation which is great for woods, strings and keys. I listen to alot of vintage 70's Acid Folk, so this is a great player for that. Quite pleased.

It's gonna bump my Rega Apollo to the bullpen as i continue to have tracking problems with it after having it serviced twice. I'm never buying Rega product again. Looks like i'm going to take a bath on that CDP. :tears:
 
I have owned a Nakamichi Dragon for the house and a TD-700 for the car. Both were great decks but I got so tired of trying to properly fit albums onto to cassettes that I finally gave it up and moved onto CD and never looked back.
 
A friend of mine talked about how his CD player 2 has been a great CD player since he bought it new in early 90s... His enthusiasm talked me into buying one for myself... It's a great player and fun to play with... :thmbsp:
 
I have a CD Player 3. Got it for free as it didn't work when the CL seller tried to demo it for me. $25 later for a new belt and a once over by my tech, and it works very well and sounds nice connected to my Yamaha CR-2040.
 
OMS-2A, bought for $20 from Craigslist last year. Had a little drawer 'hiccup' for a while but now it is working fine, I think it just needed to limber up. Very detailed sound, maybe a little bit pitched to treble, it gets a little bit fatiguing to listen to for long periods of time. I prefer my Marantz cd-63 II overall but this is a close second.
 
I forgot to bring a player to a fest a few years ago, and a guy had one in the swap room, but he was using it to demo other stuff, and had not planned to sell it. I think he felt sorry for me cause he let me have it for 10 bucks and it plays beautifully. I still use it in my shop system, and I'm pretty sure it's the only CDP that I have never had to do ANYTHING to. Never even cleaned it I don't think.
 
I recently picked up a very nice CD Player 4 which looks and works perfectly. I compared it to several CD players and it did pretty well but I was kind of thinking it didn't quite sound right (natural,accurate,real) and then it happened. I put it in a system with a Sansui 3000A and stacked KLH 23's...aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh. That's it, it sounds bettter than the two other players I've tried in this system by a long long shot. I had been thinking about cutting it loose, but not yet.:thmbsp:
 
CD Player 1 here. I love it! Got it for almost nothing, considering, because the drawer wouldn't open. All it needed was a belt. The belt was a bit of a PITA to install but I got a "Bonus CD" inside, the Columbia Legacy reissue of Miles Davis "Kind of Blue". :)

A couple of years back I had an MB-10. That was pretty darn nice too but I wasn't particularly enamored of the "car stereo" transport.

John
 
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OK, might as well keep this old thread going. Very happy with CDPlayer 2. Sonically, it beat out a Special Edition Rotel (forget the model #, but much newer than the Nak), a fairly recent Marantz, a Cambridge Audio Azur 640 and (best sounding after the Nak) an NAD C542. None of them were bad at all, but the Nak sounds better to me, and so it is still here. Had to replace the Tray belt today...like so many repairs, it could have been easier, but it was finished successfully with some delicate wrestling.
Basically, there is the usual large and small pulley system down and to the right of the tray. You can see them down there with a flashlight. I find it easiest to loop the belt over the larger pulley and use a long forceps to lightly stretch over the smaller pulley. (update 3/1/15: A long thin small caliber - head screwdriver worked for me today, and I went small pulley to large: it just takes patience. It is also a must to have a fixed light shining into that very narrow space.) It is a very tight space, and lots of trial and error, but this is the third of these that I have completed, so it isn't impossible, and requires no adjustments. Having steady light and being able to SEE the small pulley "target" really helps, as would a third hand and ample patience. You will need to remove the CD holder bracket (make certain the player is OFF...you don't want that Laser aimed at your eye): it is easy to get to these two screws, one on each side, but careful not to drop them, or you will be fishing them out of the delicate innards for a while (don't ask). Make sure you don't have the machine plugged in while doing this, as it would be easy to activate the power switch by accident.

** I have been re-using a superglued (hey, before you snicker, Terry DeWick glued it the first time) belt, and it was starting to lose elasticity, and probably stretch. I ordered one a year or so ago that was simply not the right size. There is a great German seller on eBay called "classic audio service" (no affiliation) and his belts are perfect. Pretty quick considering he had to ship from there to North Carolina. If you want an easy search: Nakamichi Riemen / belt CD-Player 2 CD-Player 3
There are probably sources in the US, maybe even an AKer? If so, please let us know.

*** It might seem that these belts wear too fast: they do not. The first one lasted from 1991 until it broke in @ 2010 (I think)...and that same belt was re-glued a few times. This is a new belt, so I am hoping for a good fifteen or twenty years out of it.

While looking around inside: the transformer is actually in its own "box" and that extends out the rear of the unit (tidier than it sounds) presumably for better shielding. Parts quality seems very high, as you would expect.
I attached a jpeg of the interior. You will see the metal CD holder bracket spanning across the CD. This must be removed, as mentioned above (Please make certain the player is OFF...you don't want that Laser aimed at your eye). The slim workspace you need to look into, and find the two white pulleys, is just to the right of this.

OK time to listen...
Wow these Naks really do sound great! :music:
 

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Cd Player 4 purchased new when I finally found a player that sounded more analog then digital.This was recommended to my by a friend. I really did not enjoy listening to CDs until the Nak came along.Oh,and no issues with it.
 
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:yes: Nice description Hawkgt: "finally found a player that sounded more analog then digital".

Also, the belt change is almost like having tires that last 200,000 miles: no complaints!
There might be some easier way to get to the tray belt, but my method requires no major disassembly, which is good, because I would probably lose a screw.
 
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