How good was the Nakamichi Dragon?

[Pampero]

Originally Posted by CRJCapt

Not coming back you say. I wonder.

The music business can't give away digital.

Word around the campfire is that Chad from Acoustic Sounds is looking at this "Tape" thing.

And then there's this...................

Project R2R

And this...............

Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope

And this............................

http://tapeproject.com/product/creed...the-poor-boys/

You know how many people told me vinyl would never come back?

There has been and remains a vibrant high end market for analog playback, so I will remind you that I entered this discussion regarding the reintroduction of high end cassette decks, not vinyl.

Now there has been modest retention of tape as a tracking source in studio. However, no major manufacturer has made a multitrack recorder in decades, so the machinery for tracking is all 20 years old or older. The same can be said for pro 1/4" and 1/2" mix down machinery. It becomes increasingly difficult and expensive to support even those that do exist. Just as important. the tape suppliers, Agfa, 3M. Ampex, are all gone so tape must be sourced from small vendors who purchased the tooling and formulations from such companies as were interested in supporting the niches that remained when the big factories folded the tents.

Whatever your or my opinions regarding the sonic virtues of top quality analog RECORDING might be, do you really believe the consumers of today are going to embrace cassettes as a re-found medium? And who pray tell, will build the machines to popularize the media again so that a vibrant library of current offerings will be available?

Nah. SACD all over again, at best.

[Pampero]

And yes, I'm very well aware of the R2R project. It's a nice idea. And again, the initial question posed of me was in respect to my projected costs for such a thing as a high end cassette deck. All the ensuing interesting discussion has been in respect to my supposition regarding costs as related to an unfortunate side tracking in respect to if a BMW (or B77/Dragon) cost (respectively) 5000 or $7000 in the case of the car (or $1000 or $2000 in respect to the cassette) in 1976 or 1983.

Niches are great, analog is fine. Nowhere have I disparaged that approach. I'm just saying tape, if it becomes meaningful at all, will never be a mass medium again. Ain't gonna happen and you can kiss new high end recorders of any stripe for $2000 goodbye.

Finally, the music business is having difficulty giving away music at any price, format being of no concern. The business is in turmoil as it seeks a way out of the monster it has created; fully admitted it's a creation of the digital era. Acoustic sounds is a fine and vibrant business but the larger business itself is no longer really about selling records. It's about selling tickets and T shirts. I think it's deplorable, but that's the way it is. Until such a time as this gets settled, audiophiles will be using Billy Joel and Charlie Mingus reissues as their references, and that's not a good thing. It's a circular ending that has resulted in a generation of listeners whose reference is the iPhone and ear buds.

We are a niche within a niche with an increasingly more insane price of entry and reduction in affordable and varied software just as your link to the Star Wars thing so amply demonstrates. $450 for a reel of prerecorded tape? A great start!

[Maks]

Kind of cool to see a discussion on tape decks around here. I picked up a BX-300 from a member here a couple years ago, it needs some work, as would any tape deck that hasn't been used in years, but I was really surprised by the sound coming from the limited format. I ended up finding a restored/aligned/etc RX-505 and use that to play back the handful of tapes that I do have. The UDAR is a really cool feature.

A few times a year I get the itch to get a Dragon or CR-7, inevitably I read about how great the Dragon is when it works, but the auto azimuth eventually causes issues. Which leads me to researching prices on fully restored CR-7s and saying, "that's cool, but not worth it for me." I saw one for sale that has a full ESLabs restore that cost $1700, I know they are the gold standard of full restorations, but that's just a huge pill to swallow. Maybe someday I'll get lucky and find one that's a little more reasonable in price. For now, the RX-505 does the trick.

[Masterlu]

Nothing wrong with a nice RX-505

[SX-626]

I'm sitting here listening to cassettes that I made over 30 years ago though my Nakamichi BX-300 deck, and speakers and a receiver that I bought 30 years ago. I am enjoying the sound immensely. It's all about enjoying music isn't it?

[Randy Myers]

I was always fond of the 600 series.... I am pretty sure this one in my old rack was a 670zx...

[cma29]

Originally Posted by audioguy3107

Thing had a lot of buttons and knobs for a cassette deck.

What was the approximate retail price of the Dragon deck in its heyday? I definitely lusted after this machine in the 1980's.

[Audioraven]

At the end of it's run the Dragon's MSRP was $2500.

[damacman]

Interesting thread. I own a near mint RX-505. Anytime I let a friend listen to my setup for the first time, I hit play on the Nak. After they're wowed - I'm like, "you're listening to a cassette." They're always absolutely floored. Then when I show them the particulars of the machine, they're just fascinated. Then they want to hear the RTR and they're not checking Facebook, texts, or emails - just watching and listening.

These TOTL Nak cassette decks are mechanical marvels with reference quality playback ability. Hard to believe really that such great sound is available from this format, but it is. Sure, I like DVD-A and SACD as well, but finely engineered analog playback equipment is my preference.

Before acquiring the 505, I looked for a Dragon for about a year. The NAAC system is really an excellent idea! I came across the 505 locally and the deal was done.

Beginning in JR High School, I made a few bucks making tapes for friends. I preferred UDXL-II and SA Type II tapes and mastered my father's harman kardon hk1000 top loader. [Only years later did I learn that Nakamichi made them for hk.]. Man did that machine make nice sounding tapes.

Vintage Pete - get that Dragon refurbished!

[Art Vandelay]

In most respects the Dragon was the pinnacle of cassette deck technology and technically a better deck than the CR-7 due to the direct drive anti-cog motor.

The ZX-9 was basically a dragon without the NAAK feature, so it was the equal in terms of absolute sound quality, and was my personal favourite.