Top 10 vintage cassette decks

Big recommendation for Onkyo 2600 or 2800.  I bought a 2600 new in 1989, and it still works fine.  Lots of useful features, three heads.  They come up on eBay occasionally.

I suspect the OP is looking to make his rig look a bit more sexy by adding a couple of nice looking decks. I owned the Luxman 5K50 cassette deck. It didn't spec out as high as the latter decks but man was it a nice looking deck! I would avoid it as repairs are probably a nightmare. It weighed a ton as well. The Tascams are what you're looking for I think. Nice looking VU meters and repairable. Keep an eye on your local thrift shops. It happens that one could show up. Even Craigslist. Look for classic mistakes people make when advertising such as not listing the model number. Good luck. Joe

I purchased new and still have the lowly Nachamichi 480.  It was still working years ago, but is it really worth a rebuild?  With modern streaming and records, why spend money on this medium?  I'm asking because I know that those on this thread find value in cassette tape.

Nakamichis were clearly overall the best performing decks, but not all that reliable, Same for the Tandbergs. Great when they worked. The Japanese decks with solenoid controls overall were as reliable as they got, but tended to be a little noisy electronically. The JVC were sleepers, extremely reliable and quiet and the HK 300 & 400 (3-head) were another. Mine never gave me any issues.

AIWA AD-F1000 - pretty much indistinguishable from vinyl when using Sony UX-Pro tapes.

I remember auditioning cassette decks in the 70s. My goal was a deck that was indistinguishable from the LP. I settled on an Aiwa, way too long ago to recall the number but cost about $350 I think. Nakamichi was considered the tops. Anyway, the first deck didn’t live up to expectations back home, so I traded up to the next Aiwa model for the difference in price with my local audio store in Dallas. That did it. I had an ARxa turntable at the time, probably a Shure cart, Marantz 2230 and large Advents — very 70s lineup. By the time the head wore out CDs were here so I didn’t pay for the repair. I remember CrO2 tape was the best.

Brent,

Lot's of replies for various decks.  Can't say one way or another which is best.  But, I would like to interject.  If you are not looking for absolute performance (and I can only assume you are not if you are looking at cassette decks), I would suggest looking at a cassette and a R2R that match each other.  My go to pair would be a Pioneer RT-909 and a Pioneer CT-1250.  Neither of these decks is the best in their class and neither of them will be a bargain.  But they can give you decent performance and they'll look good doing it.  At least that's my opinion. 

Good luck however you proceed.

Nakamichi Dragon was nice, but I'd pick the ZX-9. The Dragon did everything automatically, where the ZX-9 allowed for manually fine tuning the heads, etc.. With (I think) Maxell CR02 tape I made the best sounding cassettes I ever heard. It did a better than excellent job on prerecorded tapes, too. Like most, I wish I'd never let mine go.

knolbrent, back in the '70s and '80s I owned a number of cassette decks.  They included Nak, Tandberg, Harman-Kardon, Aiwa, Pioneer, and Denon.  Because of the time interval my comments today must be only general terms.

First off, beware of prerecorded tapes you may find in used record stores and thrift shops.  Even brand new and undamaged I always found tapes I recorded myself were of better sonic quality.  A main reason was likely the high speed duplication necessary for volume production.  And at the time cassettes were the #1 sellers.

Nakamichi has become the standard "go to" brand and with good reason.  They were well designed and built.  But they were complex and are now old and the average electronic repair person may not be able to update them properly so be prepared to find a specialist if you buy one.  I owned a 480 and found it only "average" so I wouldn't pay for the name there.  Spend more and find something higher in the line.

The "sleeper" among those I owned was the Aiwa f990.  It was not so well known then but now I see substantial prices for refurbished examples.

I still have a good collection of tapes and a Pioneer CT-900.  That is also a very good deck but mine has a broken belt which is a pain to replace and not high on my task list.

Anyway, with proper selection of blank tape and careful recording procedures you may be surprised by the sonic quality you can enjoy. 

Excellent info @pryso I do like the Pioneer and the Aiwa a lot. I've decided to delay the purchase of a cassette and put my efforts toward a vintage R2R. Budget wise it makes better sense to me as a collection piece. Great information on this thread. I sure appreciate everyones effort to bring light to the subject. 

You gotta add the B&O Beocords! Especially the 8004 (?) with the self-adjusting azimuth.

In terms of WOW factor, it is hard to beat the Nakamichi deck that does auto reverse by actually flipping the tape over instead of simply playing in the opposite direction.  The flip happens with incredible speed so it is a lot of fun to see the deck in operation.  It is also a pretty good sounding deck.  The Dragon and ZX-9 are pricey machines that, when fully reconditioned sound very good.  I like the looks of all of the top end Nakamichi machines.

A lot of cassette fans think that the Tanberg 3014 is the best sounding machine offered on the consumer market.  It has been dubbed the Dragon-slayer, by those who think it is better than the top Nakamichi machines.  It does not, in my opinion, look as nice as the Nakamichi machines, but, it certain is a great sounding deck.

Loved my Nak. ZX9. It worked and performed without flaw and sounded incredible.

I  also had a Tanberg 3014. It sounded great but had problems with it eating tapes, even after sending it in to get repaired twice.......Jim

I think I saw ZX-9 on Reverb for about $5k. It will take at least $1k cables and Maxell Vertex tapes, currently about $250 a piece, to sound its best. Anyone wants this ? 

 Anyone wants this ? 

Auff