I've only had the ZX-7 a week and made one mix tape. My initial impression is my Dragon sounds a little better.. But maybe my ears are just used to it.. On the other hand the folks at Nakamichi were not fooling around when they designed the Dragon. Surely they must have thought it was better to warrant double the price tag
They're both great decks. I'm not sure who did your service, but B&W (formerly an official Nakamichi service centre) in the UK did mine and completely stripped and rebuilt the transport along with parts replacements and electrical refreshment. I don't own an Dragon. But the thought is that it has better playback. However, ZX-7 that is in tune will equal or better a Dragon for recording, apparently. Who knows? It always depends on the deck in question, the calibration and so on. I very happy to have mine.
As a member pointed out to me you can usually only align all 4 in reel to reel machines. But the bottom line is to buy a casstte deck that has manual adjustments for bias and Dolby level. They seemed to he a dying breed. Just a moment Please..... HEY! WAKE UP! AUDIOPHILES! Does anybody know of a Sony or similar 3 head cassette deck that had all manual bias and Dolby level adjustments for each channel after 1993?
What about the Denon DRM-44 HX? Mine still produces recordings with excellent imaging and soundstaging. Plus, now you can find replacment idler wheels and belts from the BlackWheel shop on eBay.
Revox, the consumer division of Studer made some of the best cassette decks ever made. And yet no one here has mentioned them. Why do you want to hurt their feelings? You mean no one here ever owned a three head Revox?
Not true. A big myth..Rap killed music. Back in May 1989 I bought the Toshiba DX-900C (HI-FI VCR / 14 bit PCM Processor) $1300 sale price. Back in 1993 there was a store in downtown Toronto where you could rent any CD for 72 hours for $1.99. Ì walked there, picked up every Beatle CD and made perfect PCM copies onto VHS T-160 tapes on the EP mode. That is 8 PCM hours of Bealte CDs on one $4 tape. I am guilty as charged. Home tapping is evil...Don't do it.
Well yea, of course 2 tracks over quarter inch tape running at 15 ips is gonna sound great. And technically it is a reel to reel tape deck. Are these your personal BABIES at home? Very nice.
Lol yep rap and video killed the need for musical content to keep our attention...damn it, i sound like my dad when i was young
I have heard good Rap. The Mighty Apocryphal Heroes Of Hip Hop opened for U2 in 92 I think. Great ..They had a full band and not a beat box and turntable (direct drive) . And then there is Public Enemy. I can listen to that but I don't. The Rap today is just N this and F that. Oh, you father sounds like a fine man of good character and taste.
All bow down and worship before it. The 3014 A. Mmmmm.....Nice. Does it still work like new? I heard if you set the bias just right it can time travel.
I have developed a grudging respect for a little rap over the years....and yep on the old man...still shovelling his Canadian driveway at 87
I don't have the deck but until a few years ago before I took early retirement, I was still hunting for one ...
O.k. no more showing pictures of super awesome cassette decks I don't own... Please! Ahhhhhh! Back in the 80's they knew how to build them in dem days. Great transports paired with great analog electronics. Those days are over.
Question. Do you use Type 1 tape or a higher Type? Contrary to popular belief there is a company making Type 2 and 4 tape. I have seen their site and everthing.. And when I find it again I will put up the link here.
I am just going to say that at one point in time I had over 1200 Grateful Dead cassettes. Would have been hard to do with reels.
On the topic of great cassette decks our 2 Nak Dragons finally bit the dust at the studio. They are past repairing. Unfortunately my Uncle still gets loads of old demos and album copies that exist only on cassette. I got a phone call last night from Uncle Jack telling me to look out for a top deck on Ebay or elsewhere. Has to be completely restored. $1500 USD tops. And none of this , "...It works perfectly except for the right meter which doesn't move..." THAT IS NOT WORKING PERFECTLY OR EVEN CLOSE TO IT. Ahhhhhh!! I still have the company credit card which I am allowed to use for this purchase. Any ideas???
