lttnorth
New Member
I've owned the RX-202 for about a year but it had problems from the time I bought it. The left channel went silent every now and then, but then it'd momentarily peak if I tapped on the deck or shifted it around during playback. Also it had this really annoying quirk when it got near the end of playing back some cassettes, the audio would start to warble... The pitch and speed were normal, but the vocals in particular were most noticeably bad, almost as if the artist was singing into an oscillating fan blade. It's as if the longer the tape was, the harder the motor had to work to push it forward. It didn't warble with every cassette, but tape length was the only common denominator I could see.
Anyway, I sent it in for repairs explaining best I could to the shop owner what the problems were. He seemed baffled at the whole warbling audio but took the deck in nonetheless. Weeks later I came back for it after he made his repairs; there was some electrical component near the front controls that had shorted out, but the warbling audio he said he couldn't really replicate in his benchmark tests; he resurfaced the pinch roller and we called it square. However, I took it home to find the warbled audio was still very much prevalent, and about a week later the left channel started cutting out again after very little playback... He took it in a second time and came to the conclusion that it was beyond repair, and fortunately gave me a refund.
I'm really bummed, since the reason I bought the deck was for its auto-reverse, but I suppose good-looks and convenience aside, I can settle on a slightly more conventional deck. I've been trying to research what I should go with next, best bang for my buck etc etc, but I'm honestly at a loss. I don't want to spend copious amounts of money on a legendary deck (i.e. I'm not buying a Dragon), just something that's got great playback quality and 3 heads. I'm not loyal to Nakamichi so I'm willing to look at any other reputable brand, but I'd love some suggestions.
Also, anyone interested in a clean-looking Nak deck?
Anyway, I sent it in for repairs explaining best I could to the shop owner what the problems were. He seemed baffled at the whole warbling audio but took the deck in nonetheless. Weeks later I came back for it after he made his repairs; there was some electrical component near the front controls that had shorted out, but the warbling audio he said he couldn't really replicate in his benchmark tests; he resurfaced the pinch roller and we called it square. However, I took it home to find the warbled audio was still very much prevalent, and about a week later the left channel started cutting out again after very little playback... He took it in a second time and came to the conclusion that it was beyond repair, and fortunately gave me a refund.
I'm really bummed, since the reason I bought the deck was for its auto-reverse, but I suppose good-looks and convenience aside, I can settle on a slightly more conventional deck. I've been trying to research what I should go with next, best bang for my buck etc etc, but I'm honestly at a loss. I don't want to spend copious amounts of money on a legendary deck (i.e. I'm not buying a Dragon), just something that's got great playback quality and 3 heads. I'm not loyal to Nakamichi so I'm willing to look at any other reputable brand, but I'd love some suggestions.
Also, anyone interested in a clean-looking Nak deck?
You could try and find a 505, thats a very nice deck but $$$. Probably the best auto reverse deck ever made. Whats your budget?