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Nakamichi DRAGON

fun to look at and obviously outdated now.

almost the best cassette deck money could buy (CR7 is quite a bit better)

scary ownership these days with all those bits to go wrong.

There used to be one in the HIFI shop on davydate arcade (york) and I used to lust after it when I was 15.
 
Bower & Wilkins still service them and I think the max costs for that are 350 ish
However thats a worse case scenario. It seems hard to make money on a Dragon that you need to have serviced so unless I saw the receipts or confirm over the phone with B&W etc I wouldnt believe claims of service

The ability to adjust azimuth is somewhat academic unless in an archiving mode on a crap tape. No one is likely to use crap tape on them. Playing any old tapes on any 3 head Nak will generally astound the innocent -

The CR7 has a very different post cd sound but is cheaper to service and work on yourself. £ 150 +vat service costs.

Later Dragons are often said to sound diff from early ones built prior to cd's arriving. Speaking personally I MUCH prefer the older Nak sound

However the Dragon engineering and consequent build quality is deeply impressive.

If I found one at the right price Id buy one and sell my others. But the older ones sound best if you are a analoger
 
But have you got the gold plated one.....

+++++++++++

Oh dear, I see someone is selling a gold one......but yours isn't :(.
 
All the top Naks are fabulous decks. I have a Dragon and it sounds truly remarkable for a format that is technologically very challenging.
 
Great, thanks guys.

You just reminded me again about the CR7 in the basement which is in need of repair.

Thanks a lot...
 
Ive got a Nak rx 505 which i keep for transcribing all those cassette only realises I bought from bands and folk clubs.....
 
I've put my name down to exhibit at Scalford. If I get a room I will be taking my 682ZX and my Akai GX-77 R2R. Naks are stunning decks. I've not owned a Dragon or CR-7 but my 682ZX took a big leap in performance when I replaced the 4558 op-amps. Any 3-head Nak is a stunning recorder, same for any of the "Classic" transport machines. I am currently working on a 482 and a 482Z, and will be adding some modern "Super" regulators to them for the audio sections.

I understand the Dragon has C-mos switches in the signal path that are easily replaced by better ones.

Just about any Nak will make a better recording on a TDK-D or Maxell UR than most other decks can on metal. Very few other decks get anywhere near.
 
My best friend has a Dragon. Every time I see it, I'm trying to figure a way out with it without him noticing :eek:) Even today, when my own lowly Nak is rotting away at the bottom of the rack...
 
thread is an obvious plug for his ebay sale...come on...you probs paid some old man next to nothing and now gouge on eBay...~not impressed~
 
Playing any old tapes on any 3 head Nak will generally astound the innocent ...
Amen to that!

I still rue selling my 1.5. Alas, I just don't have the time to make tapes any more. Otherwise, I'd be hunting for that mint CR-7.

James
 


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