2. analog
  3. 175973-2383

Cassette decks. How good can it get?

I know some guys are going to just want to say a bunch of negative stuff about tape decks and tell me how bad they sound.  There is a lot of music that comes out on tape only (you usually get download too) so I have been acquiring quite a stack of cassettes.  I have a couple of Nakamichi decks BX100 and BX300. The 300 is not working and was thinking of trying to repair.  I am wondering how good of sound you can get out of cassette?  Has anyone taken the leap up to something like the much more expensive Nakamichis or other brands even.  I enjoy the sound. Mainly it's the background noise more than anything but even that is somewhat tolerable.  

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Showing 2 responses by richopp

richopp
760 posts
 

@livin_262002   Thanks for that reminder. That does bring back some brain cells from back then.  

As an addendum, ALL the NAK decks broke pretty quickly after selling them.  They fixed them for us, but it was a PIA for the customers who paid top dollar for quality decks.  Once fixed, they seemed to be fine, but really?  Over $1000 for a deck back then was pretty steep--1970's.  I forget how much the Tandberg's were, but $795 comes to mind, or $895--in that range, I think.  The three-head adjustable decks were, of course, the most expensive.  Others made them as well, but I think these were the best ones.  Open to correction, of course.  LONG time ago...

Cheers!

 

richopp
760 posts
 

Nak 1000 and Nak Dragon are about the best. Adjustable azimuth heads help. We hooked up the 1000, I think, and A-B’d it with the vinyl back in the day.

Biggest difference was that the Nak added a hard-to-describe "hollow" sound to the playback. Other than that, it was identical (Audio Research/Magnepan system) using a Linn Sondek, as I remember. Can’t remember the cartridge--moving coil, I am sure, but we also tried it with moving magnet ones as well.

I think Tandberg had a good one as well...hard to remember that far back any more.

Cheers!

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