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Nakamichi Decks- BX 100 vs rx 202 vs 600 vs DR8 vs CR1A vs LX 3

M

MNSLD2

Active Member
Hi Guys

I am planning to buy Nak deck. I am getting the following options of decks, which is worth getting for the price?

BX 100 - $45 (Belt fixed- works)
Nakamichi LX-3 - $155 (claiming in excellent condition)
Nak Deck 2 - $149 (Minty condition)
Nak RX 202- $100
Nak CR1A - $200 (repaired and service- claiming in good condition now)
Nak DR8 - $290 (Mint Condition)

PS- There is one 681ZX also available for $425 which needs servicing and only left side works. Its almost double my budget.

Are there any other decks which are better than above Nak models worth for the same price range of under $250?

Consider me a dumb guy in the technical vocab of sound engineering who only knows good and sweet sounds but not technicaly perfect in the specs.
Mainly I am looking for listening and if possible recording cassettes for personal use.

Thanks.
 
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LX-3 of this lot is technically the highest end. That said the BX 100 was a great economy machine in the line, but make sure the idler tire is also good, that was a maintenance item. RX 202 is auto reverse single direction (which you may want) and an interesting machine which was a good performer. I'd put my effort on the LX-3 if in top condition. Otherwise, the BX 100 is a nice choice and easily maintainable, and performs well. A 681ZX is a very high end Nakamichi, but a bit more finicky mechanically.
 
Is RX 202 is lesser in sound quality compared to LX 3? I am not really intrigued by the auto reverse mechanism. I would rather be more impressed by a good sound out put with basic functioning.
I wouldn't mind if I have to pay 155 for LX 3 to get best of the deck in my budget. If I bargain I am assuming I can bring down the price 20 bucks less.. donno for sure though...

I thought DR 8 was a good one too... dont know.
 
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Also, is there any other deck from other company that used to make decks as good as Nakamichi? Anywhere close to the sound of BX100 or LX 3 model?
 
I've had a few cassette decks over the years. To my ear, nothing beats the sound of the better Naks. I've had the LX-3 and now use the 3 head LX-5. 'Good decks but do yourself a favor and research whether the LX-3 has any of the dreaded "orange caps". I needed to have the ones in my LX-5 replaced.
 
I am also getting LX 5 in 500 CAD claiming fully serviced with new heads in excellent condition.
I feel even though serviced its but too much of price.
How much is it really worth for? Asking from bargaining purposes.

From sound wis is LX 3 best amongst the above options? Is there a significant difference in sound output quality of LX3 vs BX100 and LX5?
 
I had the BX-100 for years, it was a nice deck. I had the idler replaced twice, on the third round, I replaced it with the geared idler retrofit. I was told that it would increase the flutter but I couldn't tell the difference.

Bottom line: The idler wears out so beware of decks that go from PLAY to STOP by themselves.
 
MNSLD2 said:
Also, is there any other deck from other company that used to make decks as good as Nakamichi?
Click to expand...

My Harman/Kardon CD301 has never left me wanting for anything. The factory rep replaced an earlier model with this one since it was giving me trouble, and it has been fine ever since. I had a later, newer H/K that played back well but did not make recordings of this caliber. Ended up selling it. Back in the day, the better H/K decks were not inexpensive but also were not as high as the top shelf Naks either. This was also before Nak brought out its lower price lines of cassette decks, so the H/K was really one of the few ways to get into a better-sounding cassette deck. (And likewise, when Nak had the cheaper decks, some of H/K's cheaper decks certainly did not seem to perform as well either.)
 
I had both the BX-100 and the 681ZX. Both dual capstan 3-head decks. I also had access to the earlier 700 and 1000 decks. I had the dreaded idler issue on my BX-100 and eventually set it aside when CD came around. I recently just gave the deck to someone on this site for the shipping costs. I hope he's enjoying it. At $45 you can't go wrong. As stated the 681ZX is more complex and finicky. I can see where the mechanics on the R202 could be a pain should something go wrong, but it was an interesting design which allowed a dual capstan deck to go auto-reverse.
 
kfalls said:
I had both the BX-100 and the 681ZX. Both dual capstan 3-head decks. I also had access to the earlier 700 and 1000 decks. I had the dreaded idler issue on my BX-100 and eventually set it aside when CD came around. I recently just gave the deck to someone on this site for the shipping costs. I hope he's enjoying it. At $45 you can't go wrong. As stated the 681ZX is more complex and finicky. I can see where the mechanics on the R202 could be a pain should something go wrong, but it was an interesting design which allowed a dual capstan deck to go auto-reverse.
Click to expand...

The BX-100 is a single-capstan, two-head deck. Did you mean you had a BX-300?
 
I missed the deal on LX 3. Now only BX 125 available in my city. For about 190$.
Sigh!
I almost made my mind for LX-3. Are there any other decks that are as good as even the entry level Naks? Just curious.
At the end I want a Nak only. Most probably I'll settle with some entry level Nak under 200.
 
I owned an RX202 for many years and loved that deck.
I would buy one again for looks alone.
Performed outstandingly well for such a complex machine. The autoreverse mechanism of flipping around the cassette is pretty bullet proof. The quality and state of the heads would worry me more as that including the calibration onto a particular cassette type can be complex and costly.
 
MNSLD2 said:
Also, is there any other deck from other company that used to make decks as good as Nakamichi? Anywhere close to the sound of BX100 or LX 3 model?
Click to expand...
Back around 1981 or so, there was no way I could afford a Nakamichi (they did not yet have all those additional cassette deck product lines), and ended up with a Harman Kardon CD301 (by way of a warranty exchange--the HK301 wound up having issues). I later bought a newer H/K that didn't make recordings anywhere near as good as this CD301 does. I used to run off TDK D-90s for friends--they couldn't believe the sound quality I could get out of that tape. The specs rated it at -3dB at 22,000Hz for metal tape (21k for CrO2, 20k for standard). Excellent sounding deck. I never felt a need to upgrade to a Nak.
 
Not surprising to me actually.
Usually its the brand image. What happened in those days was that only few models of any other company will be totl in the market and only few lucky ones who took their chances to buy them, wether due to circumstances or fluke, ended having one of the best machine.
I used to own a philips powerhouse AW636 (I wonder it was only launched for Indian market- I used to live in India then), double cassette deck. It was amazingly sweet, musical cassette player. Until now, I haven't heard anything better than that deck. Its own preamp was amazing too. I hooked up my dvd player to it, and the sound, clarity of audio cd that it would process was out of the way. It came with 5 band eq.
Although I have never heard Nak. But that Powerhouse model still has a bench mark in my mind for the sound quality.
Its like Apple products. No matter how well and technologically advanced, value for money and durable product are out there in market (or rest of the world); people won't get tired of praising Macbook or I phones just cos its a brand image by now.
Though I am at no position to say anything about Nak, as I have never heard it.
 
I've had a BX-1/100 for a few years and found them to be an excellent sounding deck and bargain for their used price. The tire repair was a 15 minute job for me, so if you are handy, source one cheap and have at it. They may not be the "best" deck, but they certainly produce very nice sound for a pittance.
 
MNSLD2 said:
Not surprising to me actually.
Usually its the brand image. What happened in those days was that only few models of any other company will be totl in the market and only few lucky ones who took their chances to buy them, wether due to circumstances or fluke, ended having one of the best machine.
Click to expand...

One thing that H/K was emphasizing back then was the "Ultrawideband" electronics they used in their components, including cassette decks. So the internal electronics in the tape decks, for instance, had far wider frequency ranges than the tapes were capable of, rather than a cheaper deck rolling off at 20khz or lower because it couldn't put more than 15kHz onto a tape.

I really wanted the three-head model, but never did afford it. My two-head version plays and records fine as-is. But I think if I ever came across a CD-401, I'd likely be giving it some thought (even though I might use a deck once per year).
 
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