Nakamichi ZX-9: The Cassette Recording Master
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- čas přidán 10. 07. 2024
- Nakamichi is probably the most famous manufacturer of the past for quality cassette decks. The ZX-9, produced during the early 80's, has a wealth of features and functions capable of delivering among the best recordings possible. Discover all the main characteristics in this video!
INDEX:
0:00 Intro
2:41 Specs
6:33 Motor
8:52 Transport
11:16 Heads
15:16 Functions
20:41 Calibration
25:03 Recording test
28:38 Rear
29:38 Sonic impressions & final remarks
REFERENCES:
- Room Tour video: • Hi-Fi System Room Tour...
- Tape video playlist: • Tape & Cassettes
- ZX-9 brochure PDF: u.pcloud.link/publink/show?co...
- High-res cassette recording: • High-Resolution Audio ...
MUSIC:
- "Shifting Sands" album (Avishai Cohen Trio), affiliation link: bit.ly/3Q7BLhH
More Ana[dia]log groove here:
INSTAGRAM: / ana.dia.log
FACEBOOK: / anadialog1
TWITTER: / anadialog
#nakamichi #cassetteculture #nakamichizx9 - Hudba
I honestly thing that cassette decks and cassettes are the most beautiful components in the hi fi world. This ZX-9 is right at the top !
The same here :-)
Reel to reel is more nicer imo
@@Badassvidsz basically it takes me back to my childhood where I experienced with recordings and mixing which was so much fun and innocent 😇
@@yanivshef992
פעם שניה שאני פוגש אותך באותו תחביב ביוטיוב ☺️
אתה מאזור המרכז?
@@itayashkenazy2895 אנחנו כנראה על אותם ערוצים 😁 כן אני מרחובות
I had one of these back in the 80's! Nakamichi is the ultimate cassette machine. Honestly, the ZX-9 to me sounds better than most modern digital recordings. Great trip down memory lane!
agreed ,either than the B-215 from revox this is my favorite deck but only bought it in late 90´s after having bought a 82 Dragon(should had bought earlier the ZX-9) and a 93 Dragon(should have bought the cassette deck 1 ), both DRAGONS were garbage(fantastic engeniering, built from the cheapest materials they had at the time) but profitable, i should had bought 20 of them ,but one doesn´t guess that in a period of 20 to 30 years the all world makes the same error again, don´t get me wrong it was a great deck but in two years of heavy use i started to notice problems, big ones. While my first good cassette deck a CT-F1000 from pioneer bought in 76 is still working great with minimal maintenance, maybe because at the time i only listened to cassettes in the car , at home ,reels . but the best decks are in my opinion the Pioneer CT-93 and the Akai GX-95(or 75) also the Denon DR-M34HX, only my opinion
thanks for the video. I am 56 years old and grew up with cassette recorders. This technique fascinates me again. So I got an old Kenwwod KX 7030 and repaired it again.
In the digital age, a recorder makes little sense, but it's a lot of fun. I now have several recorders that I will repair again. I recently found an old tape that I recorded 35 years ago. It still works. Greetings from a fan from Northern Germany.
I think analogue recording makes sense even in the digital age, by offering warmer and nicer sound. Copying LP to tape, or Master tape to another tape (although very expensive to find Master tape) are just a few examples. But many argue that even digital source sounds nicer once recorded on a tape. So, good luck with repairing your gear, it makes a lot of sense to do it!
@@melancholiehypochonder7905 40 Geräte ist ja eine tolle Sammlung. Ich muss mich mittlerweile bremmsen, sonst bekomme ich Ärger mit meiner Frau ;-)
Keep it up! If you record you understand and appreachiate more sound and music.
@@alexeizhiltsov6797 "Warmer" and nicer depends of the equipment used, the source media, the soundsystem you use and finally your room (+ your preferences of course!). You can prefer a "coloured" sound wich is a sum of each component distortion: You can indeed prefer the "analog fingerprint", it's like saying i prefer equalizer curve "A" over curve "B". All i can say is that technically speaking, the digital format is a much better format. You could be surprised to choose a good DAC over a turntable... or not! Sound is a bit of a cult and that's ok! But hey, we're all here for the pleasure of listening to music, whatever the way you do it!
@@jorgjanssen9973 audiophile and musician, or only audiophile?
Wow, what an amazing deck. Thanks for the wonderful information/demo 👍
Here once again watching this great video made by you with a great cassette deck 🙂
Great video, one appreciates so much specification, it is as entertaining as every timbre or musical richness one wants to feel.
see, and why not use your loudness on your integrated amplifiers already using it on the cassette deck
Absolutely loved this video from start to finish!
Thx!
When I was selling high end audio back in the mid 80's I got a ZX-9. What a sweet piece of gear. I miss it.
Loved the smell of new cassette tapes.
As soon as it's about cassettes or RtR, in short about things with mahnetic tape, I put a thumb up. I love that so much!
🙂
Merci pour cette superbe vidéo explicative comme toujours, j'ai encore appris beaucoup de chose !!!!😊😊😊
Grazie molto grazie !!
Throughly enjoyed the post. Wow amazing peace of Equipment.
Great video & information. 🎉
I'd say it's an outstanding cassette deck. The playback sounded excellent to me.
Brilliant.....I enjoyed it..... What a device. Super. Definitely one of the best cassette decks they made back then. Greetings from the Netherlands Limburg Maastricht and above all continue with High-end and videos. Peace and love and of course coffee beans.....
✌🏾🌍😘
Thanks Javier!
this was my prefered deck when new ,but when i tried the CR-7 i saw it as a evolution of it .Both good decks
i agree the zx9 is a very great cassette player i remb Crutchfield magazine displaying this model The engeenering is truely a piece of artwork
( Thanks for the video share love the content )
I have always dreamed of owning one of these ZX-9's. I cannot afford one to add to my fleet of tape decks, yet.... anyway. Someday maybe. Hopefully they are not $10,000 by then. I do worry about finding one in the future that has low head wear. I really wish someone had a huge stock of NOS Nak heads for these. They could last forever if you had a couple of spare head sets to put in them. Anyway thanks for close up look at this wonderful instrument. It truly is a treasure. Thanks.
My friend, excellent video, very clear presentation of material and speech. I subscribe. I have ZX7, very satisfied.
Super video 👌👍🤗
I bought my ZX-9 in Japan back in the mid-eighties. I believe I only paid $800 then, mainly because the Yen was 250 to the dollar. I pretty much stopped using it when cds came out. It's now in the shop getting a tuneup. I'm looking forward to getting it back and listening to the tapes I made almost 40 years ago.
Another great demo. I like you cover the ZX-9 & what it has to offer to those who are using cassettes as playback & recording, & those who would be interested in getting into the format. I recalled be station in Germany & the Nakamichi products were in the Base Exchange BX & even then they were expensive. My dream Cassette deck was the Dragon, boy I would salivate over that thing; nevertheless, @ $1,500.00 that was a bunch to spend on a cassette deck in the 1980’s. I settle with the Harman Kardon CD 491 which was half the price & a fairly nice deck. Fast forward to today to your post & I’m pretty upset with you, now you have me wondering, what if? 🤣😂 I be pondering 🤔 my dreams of the Nakamichi Dragon all over again. Thanks Buddy
Keep the reviews coming. 👍🏽
The explanation for the blank window is to provide additional cooling, as it is with the ZX-7 as well.
According to what I've seen mentioned about it on some forums, such as Tapeheads.
I don't seem to feel much heat from the window area on mine though, but I guess Nac had their reasons.
Nice to see how you explained this great deck so well to the viewers. This will help to keep the flame burning for a few more years, for these classics.
yes but inside they burn
Thanks for the video. I love Sony tc-k 970 es especially in recording it develops fantastic quality of sound. For playback I use TEAC-V7000.
Nice!!
I like the independent left / right level control... Much better the a single balance control... Very nice deck indeed...
I will soon have a wonderful opportunity to evaluate the best Pioneer deck with the best Akai deck. And then I'll buy myself a Nakomichi. )) And something tells me that Nakomichi has over-praised everything. Thanks for video! )
Great video really enjoyed this one I have an Akai GX-R88 which is also quite a lovely deck for recording and playback. The difference between the source and the tape is very close so this is obviously a quality tape deck congratulations man.😁🎧👍
Thanks! With a metal tape it's indistinguishable. Notice that I did not use simple electronic music, that's easy. A piano, is always revealing.
@@anadialog absolutely!!!!! and I did notice your music selection.🎧👍🙂
Akai 3 heads 3 motors direct drive dual capstan and GX heads
Very good recording
Auto selection of type of cassette
Best frequency response
On Tape position it sounds smoother, fatter bass, more round, and foremost, the sound is more relaxed, it feels better, and is more musical. The same happened with the Nakamichi 680ZX my father has, it improved the source (when it come from a digital one) nice review !
Yes, that’s exactly my experience with the 682ZX. It just sounds wonderful!
Its not possible to improve the signal once it has been degraded. But that's not really the point. All that matters is what you enjoyed most.
@@EskWIRED Why would the signal be degraded? Isn't the point of Dolby to preserve part of the signal and surpress hiss? Same as the RIAA curve on vinyl? Vinyl can't take the low bass energy, so the signal on the actual vinyl record contains way less that is then boosted properly via RIAA...
@@erwindewit4073 any signal which sounds different from the original has been distorted. Nothing can possibly improve sound quality. Every component, every connection, and every connector degrades the signal.
@@EskWIRED Fine, let’s call it ‘best at preserving as much as possible from the original signal’. But the point of RIAA and Dolby are that they don’t change the signal really.
Nothing short of Amazing ! I got a Dragon back in 1986.This one is amazing or just as good as Dragon. Like your lection very much !
No, only the Denon uses a loudness installed that increases high frequencies even if not noticeable in the recording, they stop making decks with calibration but maybe the best player of cassettes if in the right azimuth, i have one and had two dragons
The playback sounded amazing on my Logitech computer speakers. I was blown away. I definitely need (want) one of those ZX-9s. First I must get a second mortgage on my house to buy one. lol 😄Seriously though, I've been wanting to buy a high end cassette deck to do some recording. The ZX-9 might be the one. Great video.
Let us know what you get in the end!
I'm 77 yrs & I truly miss the pencil ✏️ and thr Cassette. I'm a Dolby fan.
Hey dear Guido i think you know me .. i'm a cassette & cassette deck lover how could i not to love this cassette deck ,,, Great video as always :-)
Nick! Of course I know who you are. You are a long time subscriber! THX for all your input and comments!
@@anadialog My pleasure dear Guido you deserve it anyway :-)
Very fast car! I had a 1994 turbo SE in red. Very heavy cable clutch. Solid car. Lots to like about them.
I had a ZXL 700 on my days, but your ZX9 sound is better. I liked the sound timbre produced by those discrete heds. Thanks for posting.
Apart from the music choice, that I don’t think it was having much dynamic, thank you very much for the review. Super-nicely done!
Yes, it could have been more dynamic, I agree. It's always difficult to find something new that CZcams will not block...
@@anadialog ah, yes, you are right, I keep forgetting this, hehe
I own the mighty Nakamichi ZX-7 (same deck)..and some other awesome Nakamichi's.. ..thanx
you are right! the pro/ high-end machines tend to have lower frequency responses/conservative specs than the consumer grade machines, if you notice (especially r2r decks). BUT the sounds from the Pro decks are clearly better. so don't pay much attention to the specs.
Thanks I own a ZX7 😊 and its true the sound is fantastic especially after several hours and with no dolby
This is really cool! Something I can relate to! I was fortunate enough to spend time with a Nakamichi expert who services and rebuilds the decks. So I heard a CR-7, ZX-7, ZX-9, Dragon, my 682ZX, 1000 ZXL and 700 ZXL side by side. And yes, it absolutely depends on your preference, but for me the 1000 ZXL was the real winner. But it's VERY expensive (and big). The ZX-9 and ZX-7 were about equal sound wise for me and about as good as a 700 ZXL (the ZXL's are VERY hard to set up, but when they fire on all cilinders, WOW!). The CR-7 is technically perhaps better than the ZX, but it sounded more like a CD. Which is... boring? But still VERY good! My 682ZX was technically the least impressive (still top 15 of all time I think), but it's slightly warmer and looks really nice. I love it! The one I liked the least was the Dragon. More like the CR-7 but really not as good. And when the Dragon head wears out, that's it, no more replacements. But for the others, much less of an issue.. Also, the ZX-9 is very much like the 682ZX of a year before, but it adds the azimuth (very cool), and on the 682ZX the bias is automatic, the 400 Hz manual with screws on the front. The knobs on the ZX-9 are definitely an improvement! My dream would be a 1000 ZXL, 700 ZXL or ZX-9/7, but I'd have to win the lottery ;) Still, I recorded Blank & Jones - Relax (Edition One) which is ever so slightly bright on top on a Sony Metal-XR (used) cassette and played both the CD via my dCS Delius DAC and the 682ZX for a bunch of people, and most of them preferred the cassette! They just didn't believe it WAS a cassette. Couldn't have been, they said... I love cassettes! And I still love this channel!
I agree that the 1000 ZXL is in a league of its own. I have a serviced 700 ZXL and it is very close. The friend I bought mine from also has an overhauled 1000 ZXL and he could not tell a difference between their recordings. I worked on his ZX-9 and it is a special machine. Very tough to find a supply capstan slave belt with the right tolerances to work properly on it though, mainly due to the crowned brass pulley on the supply capstan.
Note that the 682ZX also has record azimuth adjustment, although it is automatic rather than manual like the ZX-7/9.
@@reeltorock Funny that. We experience the same thing. How close the 700ZXL got to the 1000ZXL. And I personally like the look of the 700 better.. It’s I remember correctly, the 700 did 8 measurements to auto calibrate, but the 1000 supposedly did over 30. That’s why they are so hard to set up the expert said. We couldn’t hear a difference on type iv, but with type i, we sure did. The crappier the tape, the more the 1000ZXL seemed to shine!
@@erwindewit4073the 1000 ZXL did auto tape type recognition, whereas the 700 ZXL was manual. AFAIK the calibration process besides that was almost identical. I agree that both decks can do magic with mediocre tape. I ran duplicator SA through my 700 ZXL recently and the results were astounding. When these machines are restored to factory operation, they are truly incredible. That is a part of the opinion of high end Naks that is not always well understood. They have to be properly overhauled to make the objective opinion actually like-for-like.
Thanks for this! I think your classification is rather correct. We must keep in mind that the condition of a deck is always different. So for example your first audition of a Dragon was nothing special becasue of a worn out head or capacitors etc. For a true idea (which I don't have eaither) you really need to listen to various decks of teh same model. This is just a suggestion. Thanks for you interesting input. I would have loved a pic of the faces of the guys when you revealed it was a cassette! ;-)
@@reeltorock Yep, the expert told me it cost 1500 euros to recap and setup (including cleaning the mechanism of course) as it takes him a full month of work (part time, he’s a database man during the day). The 682ZX ‘only’ took him 1,5 weeks..
👋 HELLO GUIDO…GREAT REVIEW 👍🤗😍😍😍
wow. forget what I paid for my ZX-9. years ago. nice to know whats its worth. used to Dub tapes for TV playback and copy master tapes. never use it anymore. I'll keep it for now. thx for review.
Got a Cassette deck 1 and CR7 (when they were unpopular), the CR7 doesn't sound like a typical cassette deck as I knew it, despite having had an Aiwa 770 and an Akai GX95. I think the replay electronics are very well-designed in the CR7. Worth the money if you have enough decent recordings, especially of vinyl. The Cassette deck 1 is more ordinary sounding apart from the azimuth correction.
Had a ZX-9, which was considered a Dragon Killer.. I blind tested 15 people 30 years ago listening through my old AKG150 Headphones, using the Nak, a Dual 604 turntable with a Shure V5 type3 cartridge and a Technics CD Player. I recorded the album 'White Winds' from Andreas Wollenweider to a metal cassette with dolby C, from vinyl. I also had the same material on CD as well.. Short story: no one was able to hear any difference predictably; including myself! Once calibration is done on a high-end Nak, any cassette's sound is indistinguishable from the original material.
Amen!
Saludos desde Lambayeque Perú
That kind of quality is what led me again into the cassette "thing" and it always 🤯every time. Today, I'm a happy owner of two great decks for the price: a Gradiente D-II (a brazilian rebrand/remake of the Alpine AL-65) and a Sony TC-K615S - and they sound AMAZING
I'd be nice to see your take on the Sony ES (KA1, KA3, K333 etc.) lineup, especially when recording with Dolby S.
I do have one Sony deck that I never showed, the TC-K333ESG, very normal sound. I was expecting much more. Something new with Dolby S is about to arrive... ;-)
Hi and thanks for the video.
What is your setup for recording? You use a pro-ject device?
Would love to know more about this, also about the source settings etc..
Thanks for sharing your passion
Hi there, yes I use my Mac or my Pro-ject streamer converted by the Holo Audio May and preamplified by the Spettro I recently presented and then sent to one of my recorders.
I've seen examples of that deck selilng for up to 9000euro's which is insane. The ZX9 is in the top 3 best sounding Nakamichi decks for sure
insane is the price people pay to have a Dragon, i had two times a horrible experience with the Dragon , first in early 80´s when new it was built with cheap materials ,the working part of the deck where is the automatic azimuth and also the auto-reverse is made of cheap plastic and living in a region that is almost everyday from june to october end temperatures like 30 to 40 degrees and in late july and august at 24h. it´s still 40 degress some nights and nakamichi decks if you listen or record two cassettes one following the other ,the next day a vibration is noticed in the recording or a previous recorded cassette also when played the vibration is present ,only in a doble cassette deck from Sony from mid 80´s i saw this happening, i had a pioneer deck from 79 and a akai from 81 none of those had problems with the heat and still work today with perfection having only changed the belts ,i ended up selling at a regular price my first Dragon ,that it was less good than the pioneer from 79 but in the 90´s they were still selling them and someone told me that had also bought a new Dragon that the deck had been ,improved but when buying other ,the problem was exactelly the same normally rich kids all had dragons but far from being the best deck in recording or playing sound ,allthough the ZX-9 ,the CR-7a and the last i bought in the 90´s the cassette deck 1 ,being this last maybe the best of all ,also have from my father a 73/4 nakamichi deck with 3 heads and calibration ,all black and a 680ZX that still work today and i remenber somewhere in the 80´s my father sending them in diferent years to be repaired and today both work very good ,but what i find strange is that in the 80´s it was already said that the Dragon was maybe the best deck and in hi-fi magazines that still exist today in digital format, testing the dragon deck against others from diferent brands and in the two i read at the time they had 3 diferent decks from three diferent brands as being much better than the Dragon and i could test it my self at home because in the 90´s i was still using a 76 complete system from Pioneer and wanted a modern system or in Black ,so my first choice at the time was nakamichi with it´s well known stasis power amplifiers and pre-amp. also the dragon turntable that i ended up selling everything and buying a sony ES system with the money i had from selling the complete nakamichi system ,which i was already having problems with the cassette deck dragon MKII and the turntable also called dragon ,after also had problems with the decks from sony and sold everything again to buy again a Pioneer system urushi components ,that never gave me problems till today and i´ve used it heavilly, as the 76 system that only the reel deck had to be fixed ,but the 79 SA-9800 amp. and the CT-F1250 deck either than changing the belts on the deck never had problems
I never had ZX-9 , have ZX-7 , but my technician , who deals with Nakamichis all the time does not see any difference, performance wise , yes ZX-9 Super Tuned , has direct drive and on a paper has better Wow Flutter & Distortion by 0.000 something ( if I remember right) , it is more for Super demanding fellows ) with big buck)
ZX-7 to me has clear analog curly sound , CR-7 has indeed CD like beautiful closer to 90ies sound , 🐉 🐲 Dragon to me is a Referee , it sounds something on the middle between ZX-7 and CR-7, both three decks , different sounding, I love them three , can not choose my favourite )
660zx/670zx/680zx another Beautiful machines, identical sounding , Very powerful HIgh /Low frequencies, Very detailed very Beautiful as well
682ZX and little bro 681ZX is another 💎 gem , Dolby C added along with 15kHz Calibration Tone . Sound to me bit different from 6×0 ZX series,
682 ZX to me very musical and sounds like something between ZX-7 and 6x0ZX series Excellent both Recorder & Player , and think 🤔 this is 682 ZX Superior Nakamichi deck in my possession .
Does it mean that I don't like my other Nakamichi decks?
No . I like them all )
I totally agree with your comment nicely said
I have the ZX-7, ZX-9, and a Dragon. The two ZX's sound the same to me, to be honest. However, I find the Dragon has the better bass output. It's far more controlled and coherent compared to the other two. So, I use the ZX's for recording and the Dragon for playback. However, in terms of reliability the Dragon is also the most temperamental.
the dragon seems that they built it with cheap material wich makes it fail at the end of a couple of years this because of the heat that puts out of shape some parts that are related with the playback and recording ,the ZX-7 and the ZX-9 are both excelent decks in my opinion much better than the dragon and allthough they are both very good one can notice the diference between the two if the system is at least with average quality but it´s not a huge diference but a litle better sound on the ZX-9 wich is an improved ZX-7, i Had two Dragons and they did failed both and some years ago i bought the ZX-9 having already the CR-7a wich i found it to the best Nakamichi deck ,excluding the ZXL1000, i also have a Pioneer CT-93 wich surprised me for having a better sound and better built in quality materials , but all are good and the pioneer is around 10 years more modern(excluding the CR-7a) and with more recent developments in terms of playing and recording tapes, there is also the CT-939mkII and the Akai GX-75 or 95(both the same)that sound better than the early 80´s nakamichi decks but nakamichi decks when working good they have a system well engeniered with great quality ,also tried the more recent(90´s) cassette deck 1 wich is a great cassette deck, the more evolved from Nakamichi, regards
I have one, it definately is one of the more raw sounding decks with perfect manners, dragon sounds more digital, hence why sony d6c recordings gel seamlessly and push the experience more openly
Thanks for this another excellent video! Are you using any fancy interconnects with this deck? Thanks again. Kind regards
My always, occ copper with teflon insulation, regardless the brand. I did several videos on this topic. ;-)
@@anadialog Thank you! Will search for those videos.
Excellent video I was just wonder if you can recommend any direct drive Technics thx
Well, I am in love with my RS-B100. Here is a video I made on it: czcams.com/video/dFyFnKF33vo/video.html
How much trouble we need to take to listen to a music? Nakamachis were only in my dreams. But now, I don't want to touch any of those old formats. I still do love those.
I have a question sir, which one is better for record a cassette? using high end tape deck or a compo(e.g. LG MDD64). I assumed that since compo is fully digital it better than using high end tape deck
ZX was also the metal version of their blank cassettes
There are a lot of cassette deck oddities, some of which probably only the actual owners of the cassette decks know of. Most of us have seen videos of the Nakamichi cassette deck which visually flips the cassette over to play side 2. There is a Pioneer Elite Series cassette deck which has an input on back where you can connect a digital interconnect from your CD players digital out and make a dub of a CD without going through the analog output of your CD player. The cassette deck also digitally reduces tape hiss. It's a fine sounding cassette deck. Pioneer must have used their best minds on their tape decks; both cassette and reel to reel. They were a real cut above what you would expect. There were 2 speed cassette decks by Marantz, BIC and others who knew that doubling the 1/78 ips speed for both recording and playback should improve the fidelity, based on results with reel to reel decks. All things being equal and ideal it would have. There was a tape deck back in the late 1970s that came out and created a bit of a stir in that it used computer circuitry and could be programmed to find individual tracks on a cassette by counting the silences between tracks as it fast forwarded. I had one, but my then Kenwood cassette deck with oscillator test tone circuitry surpassed it for sound by too big a margin, and I stopped using it. There was a turntable like that too called the ADC Accutrac, which could be programmed to play tracks of any LP in any order, by using a beam to count clear wax between the tracks of the LP. One of the things I like about Tandberg cassette decks is that they fast forward and rewind the tapes from beginning to end in what seems like 1/3 the usual time. Really fast and I've never had a tape snap. Also if some tape starts coming out of its shell, it senses it and corrects it instantly so a bunch of tape doesn't get tangled up in the machine. It doesn't miss a beat either. It corrects it and keeps playing the tape without a shutoff and if you are not visually watching the tape play close up, the only sign anything happened is a slight tick, like a trick or pop when playing a record.
How’s the playback sound vs the 680 series?
If I wanted what I call a "big" Nak, this would be it! I've learned over the years and have concluded that I'll deal with ONLY DD decks. I've gone through HELLA Naks, they're 💰 pits and have settled for an LX 3, sendust head, and a hotrodded power supply.....I'M 😎!
Great vid as always but it should be noted ALL Nakamichi 3 head decks have discrete heads and all pre-Sankyo (later era) transports have asymmetrical capstans. Even their cheap decks were very good quality where it counted, sacrificing only features. The 481/482/581/581 then LX-3/LX-5 are among the best recording decks of their day and had the exact same transport as the big boys. They were still expensive, but cheap for a Nakamichi.
I would love to see a comparison between multiple Nakamichi decks. I have been tempted by the dragon, zx9 and the RX 505 .
While the RX-505 does have the "cool factor" of the unidirectional auto reverse, it is otherwise basically an upside-down LX-5. A good performer in its own right, but the ZX-7/9 are on another level for recording. The Dragon is tough to beat for playback versatility.
@@reeltorock You are re-enforcing my point, which is:
It would be great to have a vid comparing multiple Nakamichi decks(instead of the usual vids covering only one deck at a time). It would be a great resource for analogue fans.
@@MrAustrokiwi it will take a long time as many of my decks need recapping and general service, but I own most of the top Naks and will make that comparison one day.
Taking notes!
@@reeltorock of all the Dragon is the worst , i had two ,the first was badly built ,cheap materials then the 90´s arrive i´m buying a new system and a friends says ,did you tried the dragon?yes it´s a very bad cassette deck but then he says try a new one and so i tried and they do work perfect when new and he tells me that in all this years they were improved but again after 3 years of heavy use i sold it before it stoped working and with some money more i went to the Pioneer CT-959 ,perfect .
Returning to nakamichi i do prefer the ZX-9 or the RX-505 or even maybe the best CR-7a ,what surprised the most was the minimal(this regarding cassette decks was the Cassette Deck 1,this last 3 the ones i own but last week a friend of mine knowing that i was restoring old decks and using again cassettes he ofered me a BX-2, it works but i still never heard it ,simple maybe a good deck ,not comparable with the others except the Dragon ,for sure it´s better because of it´s simplicity
Thanks for your video ! I want know which deck would you like more : ZX-9 and RS-B100 ?
Uuh! Big question....ZX9 is an all rounder...the dbx recordings on the Technics are Mind-blowing BUT do remember that I have a mod version by ANT audio.
thanks for this video, Guido! I have a Zx7, I think the same, except for the direct transmission! can I ask at what level-volume was the source of your recording? 3/4 ?
Almost the same if you watch the video, peaking at 3
Hi Guido, which cinch cables you can suggest for nakamichi? I have a cr4, thanks
Ciao Enrico, if you know me the answer is only one: OCC copper (or Silver, better) cables, with teflon insulation and quality connectors. Probably gold because of oxide or silver (oxide is conductive). I did several videos on DIY (cheap and effective: czcams.com/video/u3EPL6hI_H4/video.html) and shelf products: czcams.com/video/K5tFrlCvn3o/video.html If you want the best at a decent price, go Neotech like the NEi 3001 III (copper) or NEI 1001 (silver). Some sell these ready to use or you can do them starting with bulk cable.
i bought a Ferrograh Logic 7 Reel to Reel Deck in 1978 over the Revox B77 because of the sonics the Ferrograph just sounded better in hiendsite i should have bought the Revox because 2 years later Ferrograph went bust and when the heads wore out i could not get them replaced but you can always get spares for Revox because they made so many, i also have the Revox B215 Cassett and it is also a 4 motor Direct Drive and it sounds great
I recently got myself a BX-300. It's no ZX-9 but man, its my baby.
Nice!!
I ask myself, why with the current technology brands don't put themselves at the service of new cassette decks, there is such a fervent demand… I bought a pioneer ct979 and I already missed the cassette is a ritual like the turntable. And by the way I like the way you present and explain things, very natural good work and keep going.
João Marques ,eu tenho o modelo anterior que só difere no tipo de calibração de resto são idênticos ,o CT-959 que tive parado desde 1995 até 2017 quando instalei novas correias, ficou a trabalhar como novo , gravei a primeira cassette uma tdk ma-xg porque no manual diz que o deck vem calibrado para essas cassetes e sem calibrar gravei umas musicas de cd e o som era idêntico ao som de um minidisc que gravei ao mesmo tempo no modelo topo de gama da pioneer(MD-J707 ou parecido) e do cd(um PD-S802) de onde gravei ,isto com um amigo a ouvir que me disse não notar diferença entre as três fontes de som ,a primeira coisa que fez foi comprar um deck de cassetes que não usava desde 1984, pois achava que o som das cassetes era mau, usando um deck que o pai dele comprou anos antes mas com as correias gastas com muita folga. Acerca do gira-discos tenho um SL-1000 MKII da technics com uma agulha nova a MP-300 da nagaoka e um PLC-580 da Pioneer que também mudei recentemente a cartridge e agulha para uma grado gold III prestige pois ambas as antigas agulhas já não se encontram disponíveis para venda e têm um som na minha opinião melhor que maior parte dos cds isto devido ao som das guitarras de albúms antigos convertidos para cd que soam muito abafadas no som do cd normalmente nas frequências médias agudas e médias graves, cumprimentos e um bom ano
João Marques ,era excelente que isso fosse posto na práctica mas temos os decks antigos que já eram muito bons, ainda experimentei um deck pioneer o CT-07 que foi dos últimos que sairam e já tinha um DAC interno que gravava cassetes normais com um tipo de gravação misto pois dizia AD-DA converter na tampa frontal do deck de cassetes.
Tape and source sounded the same to me. I have a question about fixing cassette decks though. Can someone direct me to a proper forum where I can list problems and get solutions for Technical/Electrical problems for working on cassette decks.?
IMO Tapeheads is one of the best: www.tapeheads.net
I have the little brother of him, the ZX7. Is with me since the 90’s. Probably I am the second owner. Unfortunately, I have a technical problem with him. The blue bowden cable that made the mechanical alignment, is broken. And without this , it is impossible to record. I will try to weld the metalic part and hope this fix the alignment
I was wondering something. You have out of this world equipment, so maybe you would know. Is it really possible using just 2 front speakers to hear sounds coming from behind you. I kind of doubt that, although on rare occasion it sounded like some instruments were not far from being off to the side of me; but not quite. They say if you play something like Hotline Bling, a track by Drake (whoever he is), that you can distinctly hear sounds way behind you, using only 2 stereo speakers in front of you.. Is this true?
@27:35 I hear no fluttering? Does it have the motor directly into the flywheel without any belts?
From what I understand, yes, direct drive.
Wow!... I can only dream of a deck like this. I am actually impressed with my Kenwood KX-W6020 recording ability though. Happiness is about managing expectations, right? I should have bought a high end deck before they made a comeback. 😂
Nice! Absolutely yes!👍🏻
I’ve owned Nakamichi products and never really impressed by their cassette decks. The only cassette deck I have now is the Denon DN 790R. Outside of it’s stellar specs (20-20khz, 90 db / Dolby S, 3 head, XLR), sound wise it sounds great.
Avishai Cohen: strong fine tune!!!
Hello from Brazil!!! Could you tell me, why does nakamichi use different names for types of cassettes and the correspondence with standers types? Thank you!!!!
Just a different way to call them also because they used their own cassettes that had those names.
The cassette had two merits. You could copy your friend's albums for free and the cassettes you made yourself were easily the best sounding car sound then available. That is all.
In the studio tape is a medium that can be physically manipulated to create unique analog effects. For me this is an additional merit.
unfortunately, the perception of cassette tapes is that they didn't sound that good, but maybe that was because people bought cheap cassette tapes and recorded on . And maybe also cheap cassette recorders or ones that didn't cost that much. the result could be dark sound and noise
If the cassette revival gets big enough they will start making advanced cassette decks and tapes again like the Techniques series 1200 turntables.
SL series, or not ,1200 was only the reference for the professional record player on the SL series ,there´s the better SP on technics 70´s turntables
As used prices go up and R2R becomes more popular, cassette tape deck mfgr's will more likely add sophistication. I love cassettes, currently own a Marantz PMD510 purchased new in 2003.
After you calibrate the side A tape, do you calibrate and adjust the azimuth again when you flip the cassette on side B to do more recordings?
Good question. You should recalibrate azimuth. Not the rest.
@@anadialogThank you!
Hey guys, I have a question. All my tape players are callibrated, on/by/from the same reference tape. Last week I've got.them back from the repair shop. Now, allot of tapes from my collection are recorded on several unknown players, since I've bought them second hand.. On some of them, even If I whippe them, ( I record nothing ), still I can hear some old recordings. So I want to ask you guys, are there devices ( old time ), which were designed exclusively for this job? I don' care if I delete both channels, I want only my recordings on those tapes. "Original Hiss, but I have Dolby S, still is more pleasant then two, sometimes 3 different songs concomitant/in the same time, to listen.. Thanks for advices.
Im in awe Wish I had a NAKAMICHI cassette deck THE KING OF ALL CASSETTE DECKS LEGEND. Listen I once had a NAD cassette deck £220.00 pounds which was very affordable to me .
Hi Guido excellent video about an excellent cassette deck (My ideal deck). The Sony cassette you used is not chrome it is a type 2 cobalt doped ferric tape.
Hi there, the Sony Esprit II is chrome cro2, since it was UX-S tape inside but made in France.
Back in the day, some Nak owners would actually remove the pressure pad from their cassettes so they could brag how their cassette deck could still play that tape, while all the other decks did not have a precise enough system to do that. Also, my friend had a ZX-7 model and the window area on the door was completely open on it as well. I believe the cassette itself sits a bit deeper in the unit than most players, doesn't it? I think that's how they were able to leave the window open. Anyway, I always thought that was cool.
Could be! It is very recessed...
Wow, bragging about the padlifting system! Weird.. I also own a 482 and Cassette Deck 2..
@@erwindewit4073 It's more about the precision of the tape guidance over the heads. Standard cassette players relied on the pressure pad to help with that. Nakamichi realized the pad was adding its own distortion so they removed it from the process.
@@batman.darthmaul I know, I just reacted to the remark above it.. People bragging about padlifters in de 1980's by removing the pads all together to show the tape still playing. Both my 682ZX and 482 use padlifters, and it really does greatly improve the sound of cassettes in crap shells...
3年ほど前にZＸ7.９のカセットドアの窓になぜフタがないのかナカミチの設計エンジニア小林耕三氏に聞いたインタビュー記事によると［テープを見せたかったからじゃないですか、笑］という答えが載っていましたね、私もZＸ7を使用してますが透明のプラスチックの板を貼り付けてふさいでおります、ホコリは入らないほうがいいですよね、❨笑い)
when it came out the price of the dragon in 82 was around 800 dollars ,i bought one and was the worse experience i had with a cassette deck ,i remenber almost buying the ZX-9 or the ZX-7 but i failed and there were so much better decks at the time but a litle expensier, the mid 70´s model that i don´t remenber the reference ,my father had one and was very good ,well built delivering good recordings and output sound i remenber he send it to repair but already with a lot of years of use and it came new again ,i was using a pioneer and it delivered a very good sound also, i´m not sure but i think it was a ct-1000
CT-F1000 ,to be acurate
It's really something to think you can own something that is the sonic equivalent of reel to reel decks for $20 to $30 used, but the VHS HIFI vcrs are on par with them sound wise, according to an old article in Audio magazine, and in my experience. Audio magazine was known for its great expert reviewers Robert E. Greene, Bascom King, B.V. Pisha, and of course Bert Whyte. Really miss his articles. Some people cannot afford second hand upper tier model Nakamichi's and Tandbergs on the used market. Besides problems with limited dynamic range and a smaller sound, I notice that cassettes do not have that effortless ultra quick transient snap that lp's, reel to reel and cds have. When cds and the players came out, transient response was the only thing liked about their sound by TAS Editor at the time, Harry Pearson. Still I like my cassette playback too. You can get a real even sound with some cassette decks. A lot harder to do with reel to reel...and cds often sound bright, since there is not the usual high frequency loss, going from the session tape to vinyl, with all the steps involved.
VHS HIFI recordings can rival most reel decks for sound and you can virtually count on them to have a nice flat frequency response whatever tape you use. However because of occasional dropouts and the audible buzzing it creates, VHS HIFI is not the ideal choice for recording something for archival reasons. Its good to have a backup on a more dependable type of tape. Always used premium quality VHS tapes. There used to be a host of Video magazines and once a year or so, they'd review different brands of VHS recording tape and test them for many things including amount of dropouts. On the best tapes it was only a very minor problem, if any. On tapes with recordings on them that are many years old and not stored right over the years, it could be more of a problem.
I used to record on the best vcr tapes available. The sound was impeccable, but ! There would be dropouts that just did not occur on R2R or high-end cassettes and long term the tapes were prone to mold or some sort of peach fuzz. But yes CD quality.
Hola, tengo technics con ATC y soluciona todo tipo de calibraciones. Saludos
Excelente video, increíble no hay diferencia entre la fuente y la cinta. Tengo un TASCAM 122 MK3, no lo has probado ???? que te parece este Deck. Nakamichi siempre será el mejor entre todos.
They had cassette decks with ability to bias the deck to different cassette tapes as far back as the mid 1970's. There was a Kenwood KX1030 model which had a built in test tone oscillator which was very effective, but it wasn't such a high end feature back then. You could buy the deck new on sale for around $250. I don't see spending big money on cassette decks. They are severely challenged on dynamic range, they sound compressed like FM. They also have a smaller sound than reel decks you can find used for $300 and less. The budget Sony reel to reel deck I had back in the 1980s was an overachiever and easily beat any top of the line cassette deck I compared it to. Yet cassette playback can be very nice. Some music requires dynamics less than others. I have a secret mod for cassettes decks which involves using something from VHS, which improves the transparency and cleanliness on playback to an uncanny degree and opens up the sound much more too. Like your spent $1000 in upgrades, but costs near nothing.
Speaking of VHS, remember that? After a while they started coming out with VHS HIFI VCR's. The low fi stereo vcrs came out first, but when the HIFI versions came out, Audio magazine tested a bunch of them and came to the conclusion that VHS HIFI machines had equivalent sound quality to all but the best reel to reel decks. Better than cassette. Audio magazine did both dubbing experiment comparisons and a microphone recording comparison involving recording the jingling of keys. In stores that sell used stuff, these machines are readily available and common for usually around $20. You can still find sealed VHS recording tape. Further into the 1980s some brands of VHS tapes were advancing in quality so that there was not as much tape dropouts, which resulted in a buzzing sound. VHS tapes are much wider than both cassette and reel to reel. The VHS tapes moves slowly but the unique recording heads spin very fast while recording and playing back, approximating tape speed many times higher. The sound quality of VHS HIFI machines varied some. Buying many brands and comparing is not costly and very interesting. If you know someone who can modify a good VHS HIFI machines output circuitry, you may end up with the sound quality of a multi thousand dollar reel tape machine, with the advantage of much cheaper tape with 6 hours of recording time per tape. Unlike reel to reel where there is immense improvement at higher tape speeds, recording in VHS HIFI makes little difference between the 2 hour and 6 hour speed. Years later you every occasionally get buzzing from dropouts if the tape itself has degraded.
In an all-out comparison ANADIALOG, how would you rate the Z9 and the Dragon vs the Revox b215? The Revox B215 is a deck I also always wanted as well, which is why I asked. I use to own a Dragon. How do these rate against your Pioneer D-107. I don't think we will ever again see this era of cassette recording ever again. I loved going to hunt down the different types of tapes, which are now on their own very expensive to exploit these great decks. I own a Nakamichi RX-505 and a Sony TC-K690.
The M&K direct disc album that gets sometimes $600 or $700 at auction is Flamenco Fever.
Deca is really cool, one of the best in the world of all time ...
NAKA AZ NAKA minden féle tekintetben !!!! + sárkány !!!!
If a person can't afford a Nakamichi ZX-9 or the Dragon is there a cassette deck modern that we could use for audio mastering and playback?
Modern? Probably the Teac but I don't recommend it. It's quite bad. Better get a serviced vintage deck. No need of nakamichi. Here is a list I recently made: czcams.com/video/F3Bv7EUhSy8/video.html
@@anadialog What about the Tascam 122mk1,mkii,mkiii?
Just for fun, i would try a blind test with you! I'd bring a good quality pro DAC (like an RME ADI2DACFS) and record one of your reference record! You would then use this very beautiful NAK tape deck (i love it!) and record the same reference record. We would do a blind A/B comparison between the NAC and the DAC: There would probably be a slight difference but i'm really not sure what signal you would choose! And maybe you wouldn't ear the difference between the 2!
Just to be clear, i'm not here to say that you're wrong or right using analog equipment. In my case, i'm a long time audiophile, DJ and Electrical Engineer. I've done live sound mixing, analog conversion of majority of my best vinyl records. I've done pro and audiophile speaker design. I've design pro and audiophile electronic crossovers. I've listened to many very high end soundsystem (at the Montreal Audiofest!). We're all here for the same: Pleasure! Analog has definitely a "fingerprint" that you can like... or not! In my case, analog sources are out of my life since at least 15 years. I still have my Dual CS-5000 turntable. I sold my Harman/Kardon TD4600 long time ago (when i started to record my vinyls with my pro soundcard). The digital format is much better technically speaking and the resulting sound quality is a function of the quality of the DAC you use to bring the digital information into the analog domain (like they've done for vinyl). But digital (as analog!) can be done right or wrong. As imperfect vinyl / analog can be, you can obviously prefer this type of sound and it's perfectly OK, it doesn't prove/disprove anything!
People are most of the time misunderstanding the way digital works and often have in their minds "the staircase loosing information" idea, which is not true! The vinyl, for example, is an analog / physical storage media. Channel separation is much lower than with digital, dynamic is much lesser, noise and distortion is much higher, there is RIAA circuit error and distortion and you put on top of that degradation which is inevitable. I still love the big 12" physical jacket you can take in your hand and see the artwork, but i use a server containing all my music (terabyte of flac!) : It is so convenient and quality is always the same whatever the number of time i listen to a track! But, as with analog, i have very high quality digital files and very low ones too.
Conclusion: I'm not questioning your analog preference, i'm just curious what you would think of a properly done digital recording session and playback! Analog is a bit of a "cult" and i hear so many false claims and plain wrong explanations on the net, all i'm saying is you could be surprised and "reconciliate" with digital! Majority or recordings in studio are done in digital and transfer to analog for vinyl at the end of the mixing process. So majority of time, the vinyls you like has been on the digital domain at its origin! So the idea is to use high quality DAC when listening. And for very high end soundsystem (as for analog), matching components for your preferences and your listening room. Don't forget that from source, every components has its own transfer function that accumulate along the signal path until it reach your ears! And the room is a big transfer function by itself! Think of it as a cascade of equalizers in series with different curves, each one attenuate/boost certain frequencies in the signal.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfer_function
So, in a perfect world, every components wouldn't add anything to the signal and we would listen to the original unaltered studio mixing.
Happy listening to everybody and thanks for this good video!
I love properly masterd digital, which unfortunately it's 10% of all released music. I have thousands of cds and other digital hogh-res media. You probably don't know my channel but I am probably the most open person in this sense. No cult. BUT, at the top of my experience and the high-end analog AND digital gear that I have owned during time, analog almost always the winner. The engagement is so intense that I can't ignore it. This happens also with digital, but only vary rarely.
@@anadialog I get you. You prefer analog and you see something in it. You say 10% digital is mastered properly, i'd say it's really not better on the analog side!!! And we know that at the source, 95%+ of the recording / mastering / mixing is done in digital domain. Phrases like "it deserves analog" is sounding a bit like a cult, do you agree? I'd say more simply "it deserves competency, knowledge and quality hardware". Very easy to end up with bad recordings, analog or digital!
Dear presenter of the Ana(dia)log, may I ask for your advice ?
Do you know the DENON DR-M710 (92-93) and the DENON DR-M24HX (87-88) ? Which one would you choose to buy nowerdays, as they are at least 30 years old ? --- In hifi-wiki you can read, that the 710 is the 3. evolution, which followed the 24HX.
The price of the newer 710 was back then 450 DM, half of the 24HX, 900 DM.🙏
The former has better frequency response!
I consider Teac C-3x, but this one looks super hot. Yes, unfortunately Permalloy isn't so durable as a glass or Ferrite, but Permalloy is a super for quality.
The best deck is Cr-4! Because it's mine! :-)))
Great review and video, thank you!
I own a Dragon and a CR-7 but have always wanted a ZX-9 exactly for this recording azimuth.
Now, some people prefer the Nakamichi 1000ZXL, and some also prefer Tandberg 3014 -or even better, the studio versions 910 and 911 (the latter is playback only and has a very robust playback azimuth mechanism). Unfortunately I’ve never heard 1000ZXL or any of those massive Tandbergs..
Any comments or experience would be so much appreciated!
The 1000 ZXL is probably the best deck in the world for recording, mainly due to the extent of the calibration system. I have heard one, and own a 700 ZXL which has essentially the same abilities. The ZX-7/9 are not far off. The wow and flutter of the ZX-9 is better than the ZXLs, in fact. A Dragon transport in a 1000 ZXL would be impossible to beat. The Tandberg 3014A is definitely up there in the same league. There was no perfect deck that did it all for recording AND playback. The Dragon is one of the most well-rounded decks out there, with the NAAC for playback and excellent manual calibration facilities for recording.
@@reeltorock I agree. But after hearing 2 1000 ZXL’s, they will ALWAYS be my favourites. Also the colour of the sound it produces.. But playback of cassette recorded with different decks, the Dragon is in a league of its own!
Please make a video about double speed playback cassette decks! To my ears, is the closest to r2r sonically that cassette can sound like..!
After 17 of minutes the video gets frozen, and it's not playing anymore??
All working fine. You probably had an internet connection issue.
Dolby B was designed for the KLH reel to reel recorder to reduce hiss. Then used in the Advent Nakimichi, Advent Wollensak, and HK Nakimichi cassette decks. These first NAK decks were mechanically poor. Dolby C and S were later added to further reduce cassette deck tape hiss. Most duplicated commercial tapes were with B. And Advent Chrome tape (III) was really replaced by Type IV. Today, as new tape factory had to be made, as they ran out of tape, it is Type 1 (Maybe Tascam is II). Most IV tapes are new old stock from years ago.
New independent music tapes sparking the cassette boom have no noise reduction. New mass produced single roller decks cannot record Dolby tapes. So, your use to record new tapes is unusual. And only IV tapes make audiophile quality recordings. For the Revox/Studer multi motor decks, an Australian company has produced new pinch rollers (Also reel to reel and turntable parts.) Last repair on a regular Nak deck, the small rollers to drive the reels were getting in short supply 5 or more years ago. What about pinch rollers for the Nak decks? Is anyone making Dolby B, C and S calibration tapes? Parts is the big issue when buying these decks at premium prices. Maybe someone is making new Nak parts. But all three companies are long out of the deck business. (Tandberg out of business.) It is unlikely that Dolby decks and IV tapes will revive like vinyl. So, most people need to get a good A to D unit and a good digital recorder to be practical and not waste a couple of $1000 on obsolete decks.