Topic: is the nak. dragon the cassette deck w/ auto azimuth?

[Professor chaos]

i think i read somewhere that nakamichi makes another model that has auto azimuth adjustment. can anyone help me out here. what are some good decks w/ manual azimuth adjustment? thanks in advance.



MW

[Belexes]

My Nak DR-1 is a nice one with manual adjustment.

[cmoorevt]

Cassette Deck 1 Limited
DR-1
CR-7
TD-500
TD-700
TD-700C
TD-800
ZX-7
ZX-9
680
1000 Tri Tracer
1000 II Tri Tracer
700 Tri Tracer
700 II

All have manual azimuth adjustment.

Cool site if you didn't already know about it:  http://www.naks.com/

Although I hardly ever listen to cassettes anymore I can't bring myself to part with my BX300 and CR-1.

[Professor chaos]

+T thanks guys

[dorrcoq]

This is an excellent site for specs of cassette decks of a bunch of manufacturers (including Nakamichi):

http://www.vintagecassette.com/

[kskreider]

I love my ZX-7 more than any other NAK that I have owned.  I will never, ever consider buying a Dragon again.  Go score yourself a nice ZX-7, ZX-9, or a CR-7A.

[Professor chaos]

all im looking for is a good playback deck with adjustable azimuth. it doesn't matter about record functions i'll never use them.

[RDunn]

I used to work in the audio video business back in the eighties and worked for a shop that sold Nakamichi.  The Dragon was their most expensive cassette deck and a mighty fine machine.  My favorite though was the CR-7A.  I liked this one because it had an auto calibration feature for recording, but a manual azimuth adjustment that basically moved the heads to align it with the tape being played.  So even if the recording deck wasn't aligned correctly, you could play the tape and "dial it in".  Sure was nice for all the Grateful Dead cassettes that we traded.

Robbie

[kskreider]

I used to work in the audio video business back in the eighties and worked for a shop that sold Nakamichi.  The Dragon was their most expensive cassette deck and a mighty fine machine.  My favorite though was the CR-7A.  I liked this one because it had an auto calibration feature for recording, but a manual azimuth adjustment that basically moved the heads to align it with the tape being played.  So even if the recording deck wasn't aligned correctly, you could play the tape and "dial it in".  Sure was nice for all the Grateful Dead cassettes that we traded.

Robbie

In my opinion the CR-7A is probably the finest of their more modern machines.  I never did own one though and on the used market you should expect to pay close to twice as much for a 7A than you would for a ZX-x.  I also have a 3A and a 5A but neither has the features that Robbie points out.  My buddy Paul used to have two 7A's one of which he had Resistance Repair mod to add a pitch control knob.  Absolutely the best of every world on those two machines.

[DSatz]

Yes, the "Dragon" was the model with auto azimuth. It's a bit cantankerous and the lettering on the front panel is almost impossible to read without strong light, but it's the best-sounding playback deck I've ever heard. I was fortunate in that Nakamichi was still servicing cassette decks when I got mine, so I was able to get them to overhaul it.

[69mako]

I have a BX-300 deck and am very pleased with it.  It has a manual azimuth adjustment under the deck door.  Nice little deck and couldn't get over the quality gain when i retransferring my cassettes recently.

Mako

[waltmon]

Love my DR-1...I was fortunate to get one that was babied and regularly maintained

[Belexes]

Love my DR-1...I was fortunate to get one that was babied and regularly maintained

I got a quilted dust cover made for mine. I baby my gear. 

[kskreider]

... all of mine are covered with those dust covers made for dot matrix printers.  The ones that are in use get Intraclean and Deoxit as needed.

[Belexes]

I bought my cover here:

http://www.digitaldeckcovers.com/