[asebastian0]

Hey everyone. I need to get a cassette player and based upon sound quality and build quality (not going to break on me), which would you suggest? I know there are some legendary units out there but I am not sure which they are. Unit will be used only for playback so it is not necessary to have a second tape slot for recording purposes.

 

[colonelkernel8]

Onkyo

 

[Kees]

Nakamichi

 

[TVaudio]

I'd have to second Nakamichi. Depends on your bank account which one.

 

[SoundGoon]

The Nakamichi's are supposed to be THE tape player, especially their Dragon (I believe that is the right series) line. You can find them sometimes on ebay, but I'm sure they can be had from other places.

 

[TVaudio]

For everything you ever wanted to know(and probably lots you didn't) about Nak decks, go to
http://www.naks.com/

 

[Uncle Erik]

Nakamichi made fine decks; you can't go wrong with one.

A friend gave me his Harmon Kardon TD420, which I really like. It sounds good and I love the horizontal loading.

If you want to browse even more decks, take a look here:

http://www.vintagecassette.com/

 

[Nick 214]

The Nakamachi Black Dragon

ahhhhh

 

[Girlsound]

Studer A710

 

[memepool]

For reliability the Studer / Revox machines, Tandberg 3014 and older mid 80's Naks. The Nak Dragon and CR-7A, ZX-9 and 1000 are the most sought after but any Nakamichi, even the two headed ones will be a lot better than all but the very top models of every other manufacturer. Be warned all these ones mentioned are serious collectors items though and fetch a bundle.

For potential bargains check Teac / Tascam 112, a lot cheaper and more common, but have that bullet proof studio build quality you're after.

Also Bang and Olfusen made some really beautiful cassette decks especially in the 1980's and these often go quite cheap as B&O owners are too image conscious to be seen with something so déclasse. Look out for the Beocord 5000 / 6000 / 8000 / 9000. The 5000 especially is very common and very underated by tapeheads although it cost around 1000USD in the early 80's. Serious engineering.

Keep it as no frills as possible. Tape decks are complex enough without auto reverse and auto track search and suchlike to break down on you. Expect to spend a fair amount on servicing if you pick up a bargain as it's worth getting the deck properly calibrated if you want it to sound good.

A high quality cassette deck which has been properly looked after is capable of serious fidelity no matter what anyone tells you.

If you want to buy one that's already all set-up you could try somewhere like http://www.eslabs.com/

 

[Zanth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Girlsound /img/forum/go_quote.gif Studer A710

That looks soooo nice. I have a boatload of cassettes sitting in a box, I should pick up a unit so I can have a listen.

 

[Solitary1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by memepool /img/forum/go_quote.gif For reliability the Studer / Revox machines, Tandberg 3014 and older mid 80's Naks. The Nak Dragon and CR-7A, ZX-9 and 1000 are the most sought after but any Nakamichi, even the two headed ones will be a lot better than all but the very top models of every other manufacturer. Be warned all these ones mentioned are serious collectors items though and fetch a bundle. For potential bargains check Teac / Tascam 112, a lot cheaper and more common, but have that bullet proof studio build quality you're after. Also Bang and Olfusen made some really beautiful cassette decks especially in the 1980's and these often go quite cheap as B&O owners are too image conscious to be seen with something so déclasse. Look out for the Beocord 5000 / 6000 / 8000 / 9000. The 5000 especially is very common and very underated by tapeheads although it cost around 1000USD in the early 80's. Serious engineering. Keep it as no frills as possible. Tape decks are complex enough without auto reverse and auto track search and suchlike to break down on you. Expect to spend a fair amount on servicing if you pick up a bargain as it's worth getting the deck properly calibrated if you want it to sound good. A high quality cassette deck which has been properly looked after is capable of serious fidelity no matter what anyone tells you. If you want to buy one that's already all set-up you could try somewhere like http://www.eslabs.com/

The Nak LX line is also a good choice and can be had for a little less than the ZX or Dragon line.

 

[fran]

Yeah Nakamichi are the ones to go for. I bought a NAk 480 and am very impressed with it. Sound quality from a store bought tape is excellent and a recording made from LP/CD is indistinguishable from the original.

There is also the Pioneer CTS950 a very fine deck, the tandberg 3014 is also very fine, not so much the tandberg 310/330 which you see more commonly.

You'd be surprised at how much these things go for! I was very lucky to get my 480 for €42 incl shipping!! A more usual price would be €250. A good selection of parts is available for the nakamichi from a few different sellers. Belts etc do mount into money very quickly, you wouldn't see say $80 going! So if you buy a unit, make sure its working, very preferably with all the lights working too. The service manuals etc for the Nak decks are all available for download off the web too (free) so don't pay for them!

Fran

 

[ozz]

i had a nakamichi cass rec when i was into home rec
and it was excellant in sound and reliability i used
metal tape would still have it had not been for the
apt theives.

 

[memepool]

One Nakamichi related thing I forgot to mention. The CR, BX, RX, Cassette Deck 1 -2 and earlier DR series can all suffer from a failing idler tyre.

This can be replaced for about 10USD so if you see one of these machines advertised which works fine other than not rewinding very well or some other
transport related issue, and it's going cheap, then it might be worth a punt.

replacing the idler is damned fiddly but easy enough to do yourself with a few pairs of tweezers and a steady hand. There is also an upgrade from Nakamichi which fixes this problem for good.

Basically Nakamichi like all japanese manufacturers had to begin making economies in the mid to late 80s' because the strength of the Yen on the international markets made it harder to sell abroad. The build quality on the later models is therefore not upto to earlier standards although still very good. The casework is lighter and the transport used more plastic parts. Later machines tend to need more servicing as a result although they still sound amazing.