Step up from Nakamichi 582 tape deck?

How far down on the Nakamichi "food chain" is a DR-2?  Just bot one.

I am liking it and the sound.  300 bucks.  Making tapes and playing tapes and glad I have a lot of these old Maxell UDXLII 90 mins because they sound a lot better than the std bias UD that is for certain.  I didn't realize they stopped making the chrome tape so it's good to have recording stock.

Yeah thanks, I had no idea on the tapes.  The Maxell UDXLII in particular still sound great and the case also seems way better than the TDK SA.  I bought probably 3x the Maxell so that's good news too.  I hate to play regular tapes because I believe they may coat the heads faster.  Anyway it's my theory and I am "sticking to it" pun clearly intended!

Bought me a ZX9 Willy the Hermann remodel circa June 2019 unit. 

Roughly seventeen hundred, WH repair was about seven fitty, so I thought I did pretty well (hope so).  They do seem pretty rare.  The main thing is to have it gone over.  I guess this one is the "recording champ" with the Dragon the "playback champ"?

The only "bad" thing is that WH won't transfer the warranty, but hopefully it will last years without needing it!  I do think I got a good deal based on the rebuild and am planning on using it a lot.  Many albums to record! 

Nak poker.  First you get thieved then you get lied to.  If you are lucky one of two people in the world will fix it for big $$ while you wait many moons.

The ZX-9 arrived.  Me, too stupid to know to push that Azimuth button, didn't.  Willie Hermann is a gentleman, and didn't call me stupid.  There really are a lot of buttons and stuff to learn about on this machine, meanwhile it really does sound pretty amazing.  I made a short tape and pretty impressed. 

This morning I finally took off those little cap thingies and sat down and perused the setting procedure.  It is a bit daunting but kind of fascinating too.  I felt like I needed some adjustment recently when source started sounding noticeably better than tape.  Time to do a demag and start messing with this machine in earnest.  First I should read this manual which isn't easy because it's written in Japanese American.  Good for a few laughs though.