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Dragon Investment

Old_Tech

Old_Tech

Yer-isn't!
Hi Everyone,
I am looking for some support on a major investment. If you had a chance and could scrape the funds would you buy a new condition Dragon that was never really used. The deck is like new and was stored for some years now. Bought and saved away. It looks like just about a grand in all for the deck. I have three other NAKs all beautiful; An LX-5 , CR-3, 2 and 1. The LX-5 is stunning sonically and the others are so nice as we all know so this is a tough decision for me.
Please give me a hand if I really need one here.
Thanks again :yes:
 
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It depends what you're gonna do with it. If you want to play your old cassettes but do not want to record new cassettes, I think you better spend your money on another deck.
If, however, wou want to start a new cassette collection, the Dragon would be a good start. But I feel a grand is lot of money for a dying medium. For less then half the price you should be able to pick up a ZX-9 or a CR-7. But I have to admit: there is something magical about a Dragon. Although I love my ZX-9 and am fully satisfied with it's performance, everytime I see an add for a Dragon my heart misses a beat.
 
Satch said:
It depends what you're gonna do with it. If you want to play your old cassettes but do not want to record new cassettes, I think you better spend your money on another deck.
If, however, wou want to start a new cassette collection, the Dragon would be a good start. But I feel a grand is lot of money for a dying medium. For less then half the price you should be able to pick up a ZX-9 or a CR-7. But I have to admit: there is something magical about a Dragon. Although I love my ZX-9 and am fully satisfied with it's performance, everytime I see an add for a Dragon my heart misses a beat.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I will be using it for both but mainly new cassettes as I record alot of FM broadcasts and some vinyl. The price for these has been typically around 800 dollars online. I guess the other models like the CR-7 and ZX-9 have me wondering on how much was just ported over to the Dragon then enhanced with automation. Somewhere here there is a deck that is sonically equivalent to the others in all respects I think. Do you know what I mean? I could buy a CR-7 and have the same great sound but less features. The sound is what I am after and the Dragon is always heralded as the best there ever was. Still 1 grand is too much? Thats tops it would probably come in for less like between 8 and 9 hundred. I appreciate the help with this especially the point about the CR-7 and ZX-9 being so less expensive.
 
Buy it if you want it to keep and enjoy. Don't buy it if you are looking for some kind of investment that will yield you a high return come time to sell it. If I had the money and I were wanting the best tape deck out there this would be on the top of my list.
 
sounds to me like you've already bought it in your head, and just need one of the weirdo's in the asylum here to rubber stamp your decision. so, forthwith, i rubber stamp it and say GO FOR IT!!
 
Well.... I compared the Dragon and the ZX-9 head-to-head with a Grado headphone and -amp. I Couldn't hear any difference, although I figured the cassette was the limiting factor. But the Dragon had to cost 800 euro, around a grand in dollars, and the ZX-9 set me back 350 euro (around 450 dollar at the time). That made the decision a lot easier.
And if you're after the best sound: don't dismiss decks like the Revox B-215S, several Tandvergs, Aiwa Excelia XK-09 or the Teac Z-7000.
 
shrinkboy said:
sounds to me like you've already bought it in your head, and just need one of the weirdo's in the asylum here to rubber stamp your decision. so, forthwith, i rubber stamp it and say GO FOR IT!!
Click to expand...

Thing is I trust you guys alot and I mean it. I actually applied for a personal loan to get this thing. I hope I don't regret it. I am so tired of wanting the best I can get in a NAK and wondering what to do so I figure I should come here to AK and your help. And its all the help I can get!

I guess I wont want to be on my death bed wishing I knew whether I should have gotten one...

Try doing this in the TT forum. :nono:
 
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In this economy, I think one of the last things that I would go into debt for would be ANOTHER cassette deck. :scratch2:
 
been out of Cassette D for years never enjoyed the meduim better things to spend your cash on imho
 
I know

Strawman and Axcel I know what you are saying...

Thats why I posted this to hear your views. I just never could afford these beautiful machines before and they are not coming back ever. :tears:
 
My philosophy with this hobby and spending is if I don't have the money and can't afford it then it is not meant to be. Now there are things I have lusted after and gotten but only after selling off other things or saving up in order to purchase what I want. I agree that going into dept for a piece of gear is not the best idea especially in these poor economic times. I think the Dragon is a great tape deck and one that I would love to have. For me the going cost on these out weighs the return. Now if I come across one at an estate sale at a reasonable price then you know for sure I will be all over it.

If you have a good working knowledge of what is what in audio gear chances are at some point you will stumble on some killer deals. I would say I have gotten at least half my setup for well below retail and the other half I sucked it up because I wanted it.
 
Don't wanna judge, but I don't feel it's wise to get a personal loan for a pile of mechanics and electronics. I know, it's easy for me to say, I've got a ZX-9 - but perhaps it's a good idea to rethink the whole thing again.
 
I will not mess around with other peoples echonomy.
That's their own bussiness.

I can talk about the quality of the Dragon compared to other decks.
I would rather choose the ZX-9 if it really had to be Nakamichi.

If you just want the best then you have to skip the Nakamichi hype and go for the top Tandbergs.
TCD 3004, TCD 3014, TCD 3014A, TCD 910 are the ones to go for and if you need not recording then include the TCD 911.

IMHO/E

"dolph"
 
I have the money

The personal loan was just a way of avoiding going into my savings and also working on a good credit plan. I could pay it off inside of a year easy. I chose that route for many reasons so the debt thing is really not an issue. I own a home so I will be in debt until I retire. I have no other debt at all.

Back to the Dragon. I see the point here to wait for a better deal along the way. If I would see only marginal improvement over my LX-5 then maybe its best to let someone else spend the money on it.

I just want the best NAK I can afford. Having the LX-5 has really made me wonder how much better sounding the other high end NAKS are. The LX-5 blew me away. So many here have said the ZX-7 and ( and CR-7 are as good for half the cost yet when the word Dragon is mentioned everyone seems to agree it was the best. So, for me the choice is becoming a bit confusing.
 
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Let's not get into the valuation aspect or this thread will be moved to Dollars & Sense. We all know by now that things are "worth" what one is willing to pay.
 
If it's an investment, you can't put too many hours on the heads or your value will go down. If it breaks, you'll have a devil of a time getting parts as they are drying up if not gone? Once it's been opened up, the value drops. As an investment, it has to be stored and sold when the market rises. If that's not appealing, get another deck.

For making and playing good tapes, there are lots of choices. The list has been covered here a few times. You do not need to spend Dragon $$ to have a daily driver. Personally, unless I was building a model Nak system with a pristine receiver or amp too I would not try for a Dragon. Yes it's a bench mark machine, but there are crazy rich folks who by toys and investment art work too. For a machine that will get used, maybe another?
 
BrocLuno said:
If it's an investment, you can't put too many hours on the heads or your value will go down. If it breaks, you'll have a devil of a time getting parts as they are drying up if not gone? Once it's been opened up, the value drops. As an investment, it has to be stored and sold when the market rises. If that's not appealing, get another deck.

For making and playing good tapes, there are lots of choices. The list has been covered here a few times. You do not need to spend Dragon $$ to have a daily driver. Personally, unless I was building a model Nak system with a pristine receiver or amp too I would not try for a Dragon. Yes it's a bench mark machine, but there are crazy rich folks who by toys and investment art work too. For a machine that will get used, maybe another?
Click to expand...

Well said. One thing I found was that I love some of the decks I have that are sleepers like my CR-1A of all things and also a Denon DR-M44HX. I love a machine that is a daily driver yet still I hope I am not missing out. If anyone wants to set me straight on what I should be looking at that would be the best right now (as you can tell) :sigh:
Thanks again...
 
Old_Tech said:
Thanks. I will be using it for both but mainly new cassettes as I record alot of FM broadcasts and some vinyl. The price for these has been typically around 800 dollars online. I guess the other models like the CR-7 and ZX-9 have me wondering on how much was just ported over to the Dragon then enhanced with automation. Somewhere here there is a deck that is sonically equivalent to the others in all respects I think. Do you know what I mean? I could buy a CR-7 and have the same great sound but less features. The sound is what I am after and the Dragon is always heralded as the best there ever was. Still 1 grand is too much? Thats tops it would probably come in for less like between 8 and 9 hundred. I appreciate the help with this especially the point about the CR-7 and ZX-9 being so less expensive.
Click to expand...
Dragons are about the coolest machines ever made when working properly. Not being used actually could be a bad thing however, as some of the mechanics will freeze-up over time without use. But many will agree that the CR-7A, and the ZX-9 are ever so slighlty superior sonically.

The CR-7A trades manual bias/level callebration adjustments on the Dragon for an automated Bias/EQ adjustments of the exact same same precision, and a manual playback azimuth adjustment for the automated system on the Dragon. The ZX-9 has virtually the same features, as the dragon, except for no auto-reverse, and no playback azimuth adustments. However one thing is certain: both of these are both more reliable than the dragon (I've owned all of these models, and I speak from experience), and both of these are FAR easier to service than the Dragon (which is a true nightmare to work on; don't even try it, unless you want to risk owning a pretty and expensive door-stop).
 
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The Dragon is one of the grails of audio and I have lusted after them since they came out. That said I agree with spartanmanor.
 
If this is the extent of your mid-life crises, then I would say go for it. If you are following up this purchase with the desire for a mint 1965 'vette ragtop then I would say pass. I own a Dragon and it is a fantastic machine, however tapes make up less than 5% of my listening. The only reason I have it was a friend was moving to Europe and I bought all his gear in a package deal. This may be one of those circumstances where you are pursuing the last 5% of audio perfection at an exaggerated cost. However if this is what makes you happy then go right ahead.

I did the same thing last fall where I came across a McIntosh amp and pre-amp and was able to buy both pieces and have them serviced by Terry Dewick and shipped to me for $1400 all in. Since I am turning 50 this year I figured why not?
That was the extent of MY mid-life crises, I hope you will be able to keep yours in check. Oh, and PAY CASH, no interest on audio purchases. You want to pay someone for the right to own a depreciating asset? Econ 101.
 
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