perryinva
IS it vintage????
The CR-5 does not have play head azimuth adjust like the CR-7. The CD-1 and DR-1 have a manual version. Since virtually every single component of the CR-5 is identical in the CR-7, for play back minus azimuth adjust, there is no difference. The condition of the heads and quality of the service make more of a difference.
Whether there is a “real” cassette resurgence or not is moot. The prices for desirable decks has gotten insane. Someone is buying them. I only service a few decks a month and my backlog is long. Parts are always the issue. We used to be able to buy parts decks at a reasonable enough price, but today thats almost impossible. If a deck has a bad or worn head or bearings then repair costs mount quickly. I do mostly Nakamichi but they are now are also showing frustrating age issues. The classic decks (580/680/zx-7/9/LX-5/Dragon) are the most rebuildable and least parts problems, but lately finding good play heads has been expensive. I am getting more and more decks with damaged heads typically bad right channels, and have to charge $250 for a good used head! I may have to buy 2-3 parts decks to find one acceptable head. Typically they are never worn (great heads but wear is still possible) but corrosion and damage are the more common cause of a bad head. They are by no means indestructible.
If you end up with a Dragon today with a bad play head, it is essentially a parts deck. Their heads are unique and any source of a replacement head is another Dragon or TD-1000 car deck. You basically have to fall in to one at a good price to make it reasonable. That said, my Dragons have been amazingly reliable since I serviced them well over 10 years ago. The tape path must be kept clean. Much more so than typical decks. The only customers Dragons I have ever gotten back for added service had been for unusual items like burnt out LEDs or once a failed headphone jack that jammed in to the transport. Sometimes the Hall Effect sensors in the DD motors fail or are intermittent and cause issues. But they are replaceable.
The Sankyo based decks (BX,CR,DR, CD series) practically never have bad heads, but often need mode and reel motors replaced, and sometimes capstan motors. I have had more tapes eaten in the Sankyo decks by far than any other when the mode or reel motor dead spots. There is nothing like hitting Stop and having the reel motor stop but the mode motor fails to drop the head block and you listen to the tape getting fed by the always turning capstans wrapping around the pinch roller until you realize what is happening and kill the power, to make your day! Plenty of manufacturers used the essentially same Sankyo transport and they all suffer the same issues. You They have to be used regularly to prevent this. The people that own them and use them often may never have a problem. The people that own them and use them once every 6 months, curse them when they “suddenly” don’t work when they want or worse eat an expensive or rare tape.
There is no consistently perfect deck. Being electromechanical devices makes them twice as likely to have either a mechanical or electrical problem. The best deck is the one that you use often & works consistently well for you for many years. There are just some people that have a fantastic example of some and they keep chugging along.
And others that seemingly can’t get a break.
Whether there is a “real” cassette resurgence or not is moot. The prices for desirable decks has gotten insane. Someone is buying them. I only service a few decks a month and my backlog is long. Parts are always the issue. We used to be able to buy parts decks at a reasonable enough price, but today thats almost impossible. If a deck has a bad or worn head or bearings then repair costs mount quickly. I do mostly Nakamichi but they are now are also showing frustrating age issues. The classic decks (580/680/zx-7/9/LX-5/Dragon) are the most rebuildable and least parts problems, but lately finding good play heads has been expensive. I am getting more and more decks with damaged heads typically bad right channels, and have to charge $250 for a good used head! I may have to buy 2-3 parts decks to find one acceptable head. Typically they are never worn (great heads but wear is still possible) but corrosion and damage are the more common cause of a bad head. They are by no means indestructible.
If you end up with a Dragon today with a bad play head, it is essentially a parts deck. Their heads are unique and any source of a replacement head is another Dragon or TD-1000 car deck. You basically have to fall in to one at a good price to make it reasonable. That said, my Dragons have been amazingly reliable since I serviced them well over 10 years ago. The tape path must be kept clean. Much more so than typical decks. The only customers Dragons I have ever gotten back for added service had been for unusual items like burnt out LEDs or once a failed headphone jack that jammed in to the transport. Sometimes the Hall Effect sensors in the DD motors fail or are intermittent and cause issues. But they are replaceable.
The Sankyo based decks (BX,CR,DR, CD series) practically never have bad heads, but often need mode and reel motors replaced, and sometimes capstan motors. I have had more tapes eaten in the Sankyo decks by far than any other when the mode or reel motor dead spots. There is nothing like hitting Stop and having the reel motor stop but the mode motor fails to drop the head block and you listen to the tape getting fed by the always turning capstans wrapping around the pinch roller until you realize what is happening and kill the power, to make your day! Plenty of manufacturers used the essentially same Sankyo transport and they all suffer the same issues. You They have to be used regularly to prevent this. The people that own them and use them often may never have a problem. The people that own them and use them once every 6 months, curse them when they “suddenly” don’t work when they want or worse eat an expensive or rare tape.
There is no consistently perfect deck. Being electromechanical devices makes them twice as likely to have either a mechanical or electrical problem. The best deck is the one that you use often & works consistently well for you for many years. There are just some people that have a fantastic example of some and they keep chugging along.
And others that seemingly can’t get a break.
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