Top 10 vintage cassette decks


Howdy folks!

Would like to add an excellent vintage cassette deck to my setup. Luxman PD444  and Victor TT-101 make up my vintage vinyl setup. It would be cool to include a badass old timer cassette deck don't ya think. Also researching 70's, 80's R2R's. There's another thread on that one. Anyway, I appreciate your knowledge and experience with a killer top ten vintage cassette deck. Bam!

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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 ?