Topic: Who repairs Nakamichi cassette decks nowadays?

[rigpimp]

Resurrecting this old thread to keep the subject title current. I'm looking for a Nakamichi repair facility/individual here in Canada. Most of the guys still doing this work south of the border don't wish to take on international jobs. My RX-202 coming out of deep hibernation is in need of some TLC. Any thoughts, suggestions?

I'd subscribe to TapeOp or the NakTalk mailing list and pose your question there.  You may find someone in the Great White North willing to help.

[rocksuitcase]

Resurrecting this old thread to keep the subject title current. I'm looking for a Nakamichi repair facility/individual here in Canada. Most of the guys still doing this work south of the border don't wish to take on international jobs. My RX-202 coming out of deep hibernation is in need of some TLC. Any thoughts, suggestions?

I'd subscribe to TapeOp or the NakTalk mailing list and pose your question there.  You may find someone in the Great White North willing to help.

There is also tapeheads.net. although they require a certain amount of posts before you can buy or sell. There are some repair threads but I have yet to notice specifically a Canadian tech on that site.
Good luck.
BTW- Whereabouts in Canada, east, west ?

[daspyknows]

Resurrecting this old thread to keep the subject title current. I'm looking for a Nakamichi repair facility/individual here in Canada. Most of the guys still doing this work south of the border don't wish to take on international jobs. My RX-202 coming out of deep hibernation is in need of some TLC. Any thoughts, suggestions?

If there is a taper in the US you know you can ship to them and let them ship to the shop.

[rocksuitcase]

I am so excited to get the email that my Nak 680 has been restored and modified to all Nak update bulletins for it. Scott at Ohm was thorough.

 He replaced the electrolytic capacitors in the power supply. also replaced the electrolytic and film capacitors in the Azimuth Detector circuit. then replaced the electrolytic, film and ceramic capacitors in the PB Eq. Amp, the Record Amp, and the Bias Oscillator circuits. And other maintenance type stuff.

I have to drive 3 hours each direction to pick it up, and I drove it there in May, but it is worth the time. I still have 3-400 non GD cassette masters to take off.   

[KLM]

I am getting back into tape recording and recently took my trusty Nakamichi RX 505 out of storage.  I recorded a lot of tapes as well as my college radio show on this baby and it served me well. But as others have said, sitting unused is not good for the rollers, belts, etc. so I sent it in for an overhaul.  Everything seemed to be going well until my technician said the faders (both auto and manual) do not work.  He believes it is linked to a series of the following three integrated circuits:

OB11025A6E3
OB11040A6D2
OB11019A8F3

The ICs of course are no longer made and are very hard to find aside from sourcing a "for parts" RX 505.

I've reached out to some other repair shops with some saying its unlikely the ICs would go bad (it wasn't subjected to an electrical surge), it is probably something else or they can't help me.

I'm hoping someone has either had a similar issue that was repaired and can provide their thoughts, an alternative solution or has a source for these ICs.

Any help would be most appreciated to get my RX 505 back to fully working order..

[rocksuitcase]

First off, the RX-505 is one of their most technically challenging decks for repair folks to work on as it is almost a Dragon, mechanically, due to the Auto-Reverse nature of it. I am not a electronics tech, but know some about these decks as I have been reading up on Nakamichi's and their repair issues on tapeheads.net for the past 6 years.

A] Are you sure this tech knows his stuff?
B] IC chips do get blown in NAK's and many are unobtanium, as tapeheads guys say. Donor and/or parts deck seems to be a thing for many RX-505 owners/repairs.
C] What part of the world/country do you live?

Advisement: join tapeheads.net. They are a "moderated signup" site, meaning the mod has to approve and you have to fill out a small form asking oddball tech sort of questions. (it is really just to stop bots from signing up)

There are VERY knowledgable Nak users and techs who can answer some of your specific questions about parts, and possible faulty diagnosis. About 4-6 of them are USA techs with active repairs going on. Typical waiting list is one year for most NAK techs. But they can help you figure out certain things and/or a repair vector just by asking you questions. (and they will ask!)

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/sound-of-nak-dragon-vs-rx-505.586989/                       Just for light reading 
 
PS- unless it is completely in disrepair do not trade or sell it without doing some research. PARTS decks are going for $800-1000; working ones seem to fetch about $2k +/-$400
PSS- One reason the 505 is pricey is the transports can be transplanted into a Dragon if certain parts are gone on the Dragon. (but, the 505 did not have autorecord/playback azimuth- the NAAC assembly)

[Melanie]

Is this not working for playback? I assume that the faders do not affect playback but what do I know? Are you using it to transfer recordings already done? Bob

[KLM]

Thank you for the responses.  To answer a few of the questions, my RX 505 is being completely overhauled by a reputable shop (Music Technology) in the Virginia area (I live in Baltimore, MD) and will be able to play and record at the same if not better level when new. But unfortunately, and to my surprise, the fader does not work (either manual and auto-fade) and this also affects the continuous record feature (which is also not working).  To correct the issue, he replaced IC601 and IC602 as well as Q301 and the fade UP/DOWN switches tested good.  He has narrowed it down to a faulty integrated circuit for either part # OB11025A6E3, OB11040A6D2 or OB11019A8F3.

The fader not working will not take away from getting enjoyment from my recorded tapes and even making new ones but I was hoping to bring my NAK back to 100% functionality.

If anyone has a source for the series of integrated circuits or experience with this issue and has a different suggestion it would be most appreciated.

[rocksuitcase]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
He is one of the most frequent East coast Nak guys mentioned on Tapeheads. He is a sponsor on there as well.
I am extremely surprised he cannot locate those ic chips. But, if he tells you they are tough to locate aside from a parts deck, hmmmmmmmmm.
( I did a quick search and those parts are not coming up with the various Rx-505 rebuild kits.) **
Good Luck with the project. Music Technology is Top Notch.

**The RX-505 is a unique Nakamichi, I would only trust one to a person who owns Nakamichi gauges and test tapes. e.g, my LX-5 was brought to Juan at Stereo Repair world-no Nak test tapes. The 680ZX went to a tech who had them.

[spyder9]

Sometimes, googling repair shops in your area does the trick.  I found 2 places here in South Florida that can service my deck.  Both places service old skool consumer gear.

Willy H doesn't do repairs anymore and ES Labs is too expensive and they keep your deck for 6+ months. 

So, the place I went to had my deck ready in a week.  A tiny mom-n-pop shop in Lake Worth, FL.

My 2 cents.

[rocksuitcase]

Resurrecting this old thread to keep the subject title current. I'm looking for a Nakamichi repair facility/individual here in Canada. Most of the guys still doing this work south of the border don't wish to take on international jobs. My RX-202 coming out of deep hibernation is in need of some TLC. Any thoughts, suggestions?

I just ran into this guy's description in tapeheads.net: Leon(The Audiomayvin, Montreal(514)739-5403)                 He has incredible knowledge and is actively repairing Nak's in Montreal.

[tedyun]

I just wanted to add another person out here in the Bay Area, if Willy Hermann is not an option: Paul Strickland runs a repair shop in Daly City. He goes by clamsterdamm over on Tapeheads.

I bought a ZX-7 from another Tapehead member in San Jose, and it worked fine for a bunch of cassette transfers. I lent it to the owner of those cassettes (long story), and he accidentally broke the door. I could still load a cassette by aligning it, but after a few more plays, I stopped getting audio.

Fortunately, I found Paul, and he took the deck in. He fixed the door, and the playback issue was caused by aging, deteriorating capacitors (Orange Cap Disease), so he replaced them. I also asked him to replace the unaffected ones. He replaced the belts, tuned it up, etc. I thought his price for parts and labor was pretty reasonable - $400.

Paul Strickland
408-507-4890

[DMLiveWiki]

I'd like to add a recommendation for Gerhard at The Vintage Audio near the Lakeland, FL area. He is phenomenal and did great work restoring my Nakamichi MR-1. I visited him several times and he is a wealth of knowledge and very personable. It was cool to see his shop and his repair methods. He even helped me out with digitization of a reel-to-reel tape a couple of years ago.

[ts]

I am so excited to get the email that my Nak 680 has been restored and modified to all Nak update bulletins for it. Scott at Ohm was thorough.

 He replaced the electrolytic capacitors in the power supply. also replaced the electrolytic and film capacitors in the Azimuth Detector circuit. then replaced the electrolytic, film and ceramic capacitors in the PB Eq. Amp, the Record Amp, and the Bias Oscillator circuits. And other maintenance type stuff.

I have to drive 3 hours each direction to pick it up, and I drove it there in May, but it is worth the time. I still have 3-400 non GD cassette masters to take off.   

I'm assuming this is the OHM in Ithaca. I called him last week and he's backed up for 2 months. I'm in no hurry as my deck is working right now, but gets touchy. Motor dead spots. I used to have a local guy (Scranton/Wilkes Barre area) work on my decks, but he won't touch Naks anymore. You would think Audio Classics in Binghamton would work on them, but they do not return my calls. Ithaca is only a 90 minute drive for me, so I'll wait for him I guess.