Are Nakamichi's and Tandberg's Over rated??

Hi all,

Finally found a Nak I like, and works great, for $10.00
it's a BX 100 it sounds really good. One Nak tech told me once
that it's better to get a latter one, like the BX or CR series,
because there newer and not prone to breaking down as fast
I think he's right. :music:
 
I have owned Luxman, Sony, JVC, Aiwa, and Tandberg decks. My Aiwa 9000 is rated to 13Hz to 24khz, but somehow my Tandberg 3014A still sounds better. They are both good decks, but the Tandberg simply seems to do a better job. So no- Tandberg is not over-rated. I had a Nak DR-1 for a short period of time, but I can't comment on it since I hardly used it when I did have it. From the brief time with it, it did sound good. I'd still like to get a Dragon, just because- but Im perfectly happy have two Tandbergs.
 
Andyman said:
I think that some of the entry level NAK decks are the best playback values out there.
I use a couple BX-100s and BX-1s around here, pedestrian 2 head decks and they sound marvelous and certainly on par with many of the 3 head decks I've owned.

Sure, you have to deal with idler tire issues on occasion, but for $10-20 a deck, I'd recommend one of these in a heartbeat for anyone looking to playback a library.
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I agree just based on my experience in the last few years with a BX-1. I bought it from an AK member for $20, he'd just put a new idler wheel in it, so it was good to go for a while. I've always been impressed with the quality of the recordings one can make with this basic, entry-level, two-head deck.

The Nak DR-1 that Braxus just mentioned happens to be in my hands now, and I love it. So although I'm not really qualified to comment on Nakamichi by and larger, and really have no experience with Tandberg, based on my experience it doesn't seem that Nakamichi is overrated at all.
 
There certainly are huge differences between a deck that gives you buck for the money and then the best achievable deck out there.

The latter of the two will continiously and progessively become more expensive.

There are lots of people out there, with this hobby, that might as well stop their search for the "best ever deck" as the gear they have to connect it to simply won't reveal any advantages of having a deck with such a fine articulation soundwise.

"dolph"
 
Naks and TB's have always been out of my budget and I've never had the good fortune to find one at a bargain price. I am however a huge fan of my Aiwa AD-F810. It's a remarkable sounding deck packed with features.

With the right tape it's hard to believe you're listening to a cassette.....absolutely amazing.
 
I got a dragon last year at a really good price...at that time I had 3 head decks in the house by yamaha, hitachi and teac...I fully intended to flip the Dragon for profit and just for the hell of it I did an A/B/C/D comparison and hearing the Nak vs. the others I instantly knew it was staying with me. If the Tandberg sounds better than this thing it must be one hell of a great deck is all I can say.
 
EPI-Center said:
I got a dragon last year at a really good price...at that time I had 3 head decks in the house by yamaha, hitachi and teac...I fully intended to flip the Dragon for profit and just for the hell of it I did an A/B/C/D comparison and hearing the Nak vs. the others I instantly knew it was staying with me. If the Tandberg sounds better than this thing it must be one hell of a great deck is all I can say.
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That was my plan when I found my Tandberg as well. Already having a Dragon (at that time), I figured that there was no way that the 3014A could possibly best it. But after doing some critical listening to the two side-by side, I decided that this was one component which would become a permanent part off my system, and sold both my Dragon, and my ZX-9 instead. I kept my CR-7A though, not because it was better than the other Naks, but simply because it was easier to service, and because of the auto-calibration (afterall I could still twiddle with the calibration controls as much as I wanted to on my 3014A).
 
got a HiFi Review article on the CR7E from 1986..entitled 'Dragon Slayer'..apparently it was the new reference standard for tape back then..
will dig out the scanner if anyone is interested..
 
its a separate article from a 1986 magazine at around the time the cr7e was launched..a 4 page review i think...including a fair bit of technical talk...i'll scan it this evening...

feel free to drop me a pm with an email address and i'll send the entire article.
 
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I'd agree with Dolph on whether people's systems are up to par to be able to hear the difference from a top deck. I don't have my 3014A deck connected to my system yet, but frankly the $450 AKG headphones I can hear the difference even with those. There is just more information between the notes coming from my Tandberg then any other deck I've owned. Some time I'll have it hooked into my system. But I don't think it will best the headphones Im using.
 
Had a Pioneer CT-9R back in the day. Fine sounding deck, but the auto reverse mechanism was a POS, kept jamming up. Now I run a Denon DRM-555. Not a bad sounding deck, but it has a cheap feel and the mechanical parts are clunky in their operation.

Someday I'll get around to restoring a vintage deck.

Dave
 
braxus said:
I'd agree with Dolph on whether people's systems are up to par to be able to hear the difference from a top deck. I don't have my 3014A deck connected to my system yet, but frankly the $450 AKG headphones I can hear the difference even with those. There is just more information between the notes coming from my Tandberg then any other deck I've owned. Some time I'll have it hooked into my system. But I don't think it will best the headphones Im using.
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That's also why I've been using my headphones for recording lately. You get more performance for the price with headphones than regular speakers.
 
Mr. Lin said:
That's also why I've been using my headphones for recording lately. You get more performance for the price with headphones than regular speakers.
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I'd agree with that. I hear more of the music through headphones then I would speakers. The only plus with speakers is the ability to hear space or air in music which headphones don't do well.
 
tube-a-lou said:
:scratch2:

Hi to all,

I'm in a Cassette Deck State of mind, after going through a few nak's
something's burning and a few hungry Tandberg's those tapes are good
munch! munch!. I found a Harman Kardon cassette Deck. Wow! after
a little cleaning, it sounds great, and no smoke and my tapes aren't
getting chewed up. It's only a CD91 but I happy with the sound and
run's nice a cool, no hot decks, what your experience's with cassette
deck's.

tube-a-lou
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I have the CD191 and know what you mean. Only thing I don't like about my H/K is the motor is a tad loud. But it runs like a tank.
 
Great discussion. I have two lower end Naks that I think sound great. I have a BX-300 and a RX-202. I use the 300 in my main system and have only tested out the 202, but after reading what people thought of the RX-202 that may change.

One thing that I'm curious about is how the Technics RS- 9900us fits into this discussion? How does it compair in sound quality to the Naks, the Tandbergs, and the Revox?


Phil
 
Not up to the big 4, but among the best of the non-Nak Japanese machines. In my actual opinion, equal to the Nak and way better mechanically.
 
Hi all,
I'm switching between my Nak BX100 and my Harman Kardon CD91 and CD 391
they all sound real nice, this turned out to be a great Thread let's keep it going.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
 
There is ONE cassette tape player ABOVE them all out there.

Forget Tandberg and definitely forget nakamichi, Revox and all the others.

Nobody here ever heard it, I bet.
Nobody here will ever own one, I bet.

5387379000_cb37bcbd7b_z.jpg


Lyrec TR-55 Quality Control Cassette tape bidirectional player.

"dolph"
 
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