Cassette - Everything old is new again

[Maks]

Thanks Dan!

Condition is what I'd say a 9/10, couple pics from the seller:

[Maks]

Made a couple tapes tonight on the ZX-9, played back on my RX-505 and I have to say I'm impressed. Not to mention the deck is in excellent cosmetic condition. I think the manual calibration allows me to get the best out of the format.

[Maks]

Well, I added a Dragon into the mix today. I'd give it a 9/10 on cosmetics, a quick wipe down on the face will do wonders. I just let a 60 minute tape play in both directions to make sure it's not a hungry Dragon that'd eat tape. I'll hook it up for a listen and see what I think later tonight. Now I swear I'm done buying decks...

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Maks

Well, I added a Dragon into the mix today. I'd give it a 9/10 on cosmetics, a quick wipe down on the face will do wonders. I just let a 60 minute tape play in both directions to make sure it's not a hungry Dragon that'd eat tape. I'll hook it up for a listen and see what I think later tonight. Now I swear I'm done buying decks...

Steve.......That ZX-9 sure would look good in my living room rack.

[Maks]

Dan, the ZX-9 is a keeper for me

I didn't get any listening in tonight, didn't feel like dismantling my ZX9/505/Minidisc/78 EQ stack to plug it in. Also couldn't find any easily accessible cables to just patch it into my C2300 for a quick listen so it'll have to wait. As much as I hate to do it, I think I'll just send the 505 into storage while the Dragon gets a workout. This deck is Willy Hermann serviced and high serial # so I think I'm good to go for several years, will post pics/impressions once I set it up.

['cisco]

Congrats on the Dragon Steve

.....now when are we gonna to see her?

btw....that 9 looks gorgeous!

[Vintage Pete]

This year I plan to get my Dragon up and running again without fail.

[Maks]

Originally Posted by 'cisco

Congrats on the Dragon Steve

.....now when are we gonna to see her?

btw....that 9 looks gorgeous!

Thanks!

Sunday got in the way of my Sunday, why does that seem to happen more and more the older I get The ZX-9 is truly amazing in condition, the Dragon too. I think a good indicator of wear on a deck is wear on the power, eject and play buttons. Both decks look like they were hardly used from that aspect. Dragon needs a cleaning of the capstans and pinch rollers which I'll get to probably tomorrow.

I will say I thought Nak was kind of nuts to deviate from the norm of their red meters/lights at the time, but the orange meters and lights are kind of growing on me. It definitely makes the deck unique from that standpoint.

Photo from seller due to my laziness:


Update: I got brave and dove into my mess of wires and hooked the Dragon up (on the floor). It's a definite improvement from the RX-505 on playback IMO, immediately it seemed to have better bass though I didn't do an A/B but I listened to a couple home made tapes I've been playing lately. Not to say the 505 isn't amazing, but this is a notch above.

[Grasshopper]

Congrats Steve!

[Maks]

Just an update (no pics still, sorry), the idler had (has?) a flat spot from lack of use, it seems to have worked itself out after a lot of play though. The idler is only 3 years old so it's not hardened up. I had the NAAC freak out on a tape last night, but everything else works fine so far. The tape path was a bit dirty, I don't think the pinch rollers were cleaned since it was serviced by Willy. I may have it tuned up just for peace of mind, as every time I put a tape in I hope nothing goes wrong. The 505 it's just pop in and worry free playback. Anyway, no regrets on the deck though it's probably overkill since I'm recording on a ZX-9 and I see very little azimuth correction happening on those tapes.