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THE BEST CASSETTE DECK EVER

What is the best tape deck for playing used and worn tapes, for purpose of making new master copy

  • Total voters
    10
  • Poll closed .
D

dantera

New Member
Greetings everyone.
My questions is this: I want to obtain the best quality machine to accurately read and play cassettes. A deck that does a great job playing older worn cassettes. I have a lot of music, that I recorded from live synth performances through UK internet sites that are no longer active. I cannot find the artists anywhere. I want the best machine available to transfer the songs to my PC. I was hoping someone could provide model numbers or names of components that would work best for the transfer reproduction. I am expecting info on older machines. I've read that the new nakamichi mk7 dual deck is great but waivers a lot with older, used and weathered tapes, where some older models are far superior to this in that aspect and more. As far as I know, I don't need USB anyway. I can just mic in from the headphone Jack on deck to my laptop mic line in Jack. So anyway, ideally I'd like a dual deck with excellent recording ability, possibly a dual deck that is capable of making a dual master with the same signal. I like other bells and whistles, bit reliability is important too. I really like the idea of multi line in, multi channel, dual head, in and out put levels, and an in out eq, but I really am looking for elite playback more than anything. I've hear nakamichi 500 was awesome. Please help.
My intro is below.

Im new here, but I should have been synced long ago. Being a former college radio DJ and hobbyist of recordings, I have an extensive background of cassette use dating back to the 70s. Over the years, especially up until 5 years ago or so, I was still recording a lot off the internet, and then it seemed that everything I had started breaking, including my decks. I've put everything on hold, but I need to get my stuff together and can't make up my mind who to trust and what to buy on eBay. I'm ballin on a budget and in a lot of debt..
 
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You can connect the phono outputs of the deck you buy, to the 3.5mm line in jack socket on the PC sound card.
There are so many factors that will determine the outcome of the quality playback, but a deck with adjustable azimuth will give probably give the best results. That narrows the selection down somewhat to primarily Nakamitchi and that is not going to be cheap I’m afraid.

EDIT Why don’t you get one of your existing decks repaired, as that might be the most economic method.
 
An old three head Tascam is the ticket. I have a couple--just workhorses. I have a Nak Dragon (bought it new) and it is a phenomenal deck, but they are brutally expensive to buy and maintain, and a bit on the "finnicky" side, or perhaps better stated--not "forgiving".
 
First of all, welcome here!

A dual well deck will not get you anywhere in high quality neighborhood. You can get much better results with two single well decks, linked together. Nothing difficult and fancy, just a cable is required. What I would do to get a tape master copy and digitizing on the computer at the same time would be to use two good decks, an integrated amplifier with two tape loops, connect the two decks to the amplifier, with the tape out from tape 1 hooked to a Y splitter, to get one end to the amplifier and the second to the PC line input.

You say you are working on a budget and are in a lot of debt. That is incompatible with, say, getting a Nakamichi.

You should start by listing the decks you already have. Perhaps at least one of them is up to the task and perhaps the only problem it has is a loose belt or a crooked pinch roller. These are easy repairs and much more cost effective than trying to get a deck and repair that - it's very rare and utterly expensive to get a top level deck, fully restored to specs.
 
Harman Kardon made some great decks as well . The last deck I bought was a Nakamichi CD1 , The last , best model Nak made .
 
There are a number of great decks and prices are beginning to skyrocket, I only recommend items I've owned or have experience with. With that in mind my two favorite decks have both been Nakamichis.

The LX-3 is an awesome machine for a 2head deck, very lush sounding tapes and prices don't break the bank. But don't jump on the first one you see, prices are all over the place, from mid $200 to over $1500.

My top choice would be the MR-1 (The Dragons are $2200 and up), again the prices are all over the place. This deck retailed for $1000 when new and still aren't cheap, but nowhere near the Dragon's prices these days if patient. Not as plentiful as some of the others as this deck was aimed at the pro market, but it makes outstanding tapes with quality blanks. This is an outstanding 3head, 3motor deck.

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Sent a PM.
 
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Were you satisfied with your own decks, before they started to fail? Given limited funds, I would second the notion of getting one repaired. Someone suggested in another thread, calling radio stations to see who maintains their equipment, to hook you up with a competent repair outfit. Another source for repair advice, besides this forum (members near to you), is a large church that has a killer audio setup. They might be able to put you in touch with someone.

Most likely, your current machines need belts and idlers, and a clean and relube. Some decks are easier to work on than others, so if you have some tools and patience, see if you can find advice on how difficult to rebelt one of yours. I am working on a nice old Denon DR320-no one here seems to have any experience on belt replacement for this one. Other models have many repair postings on them.

The tapes, if being stored reasonably, will wait for your repair or purchase, so no need to rush.

Welcome back to analogue!
 
Not sure what your budget is? There is not a better playback deck than the Nakamichi Dragon. It constantly and automatically calibrates during playback. If a Dragon can’t get the best quality from the tape, nothing will. As for the expense, good new and bad news. The bad news is a healthy Dragon is expensive, the good news is they hold their value very well. Since you are only using it for a temporary playback source I’m sure you could easily sell it after your are done using it for nearly what you paid for it resulting in very little if any expense on your part.

For best digital recording from an analog source I would highly recommend an external analog to digital recorder. The Linestreamer is a great option. http://www.hirestech.com/product/?pid=100

Audacity is a great program to use for this on your PC.
 
Not to be an ass. But you all know I can be.The best cassette deck is the one that is my stable at any given time. I'm so old that I have either listened to, or owned, most of the top quality decks from yesteryear's. Given that, the Nak Dragon is probably the king, But I found that the Hitachi D-5500 could give it a run for its money. Especially in the playback/biasing area. This is the one I owned and sent to AK member NakDoc for a total rebuild. It be one of those "kick yourself in the ass" for selling items. But I'm sure that there is some gentleman in Europe enjoying it as I type this.


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We sold Pioneer, Marantz, Sony, B&O, Tandberg, Ampex, Yamaha, Phillips, Revox, and a few others I can't recall. But Nakamichi was the Best by far. That's why I still have my two tucked away. They held up better, also. Second place would be a close tie between Revox and Tandberg. OH!, I left professional Marantz, Technics, Tascam, Kyrocera, Kenwood, Sansui, and Mitsubishi off the list over the years, There are a couple more I just can't recall. Ferrograph, no that was R2R. We were the largest Pioneer cassette dealer is the Rocky Mt territory even though. Nakamichi was our top seller. We were contending with the dealers around Denver and Colrado Springs, too. Pays to have all those customers from the interior of OLD Mexico in the 70's and 80's. Our biggest issue was finding decks that would work vertically or others that were top loaders.
 
grillebilly said:
Most people point to the Dragon as the best ever, but the CR7 is pretty much its equal and flies a little more under the radar.
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Agree there are many decks that compete with the Dragon very well. If you expand the expectations to include recording performance it would be a very worthy conversation. When it comes to recording, the best I have used is the Nakamichi ZXL1000 which is a bit better than the Dragon for recording. If your only performance requirement is for playback (like the OP), again, I think the Dragon is King. The Dragon is the only deck that has anything like NAAC (Nakamichi Automatic Azmith Correction) for realtime adjustment during playback. It does not matter what deck a tape was recorded on, or if it was pre-recorded, NAAC will get the most out of it during playback. There really is nothing like a healthy Dragon for playback.
 
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