May I know the correct/original TEAC X-1000R capstan belt width and thickness? Just checked my old and stretched TEAC capstan belt which is about 4.5mm wide and 0.4mm thick. However, all X-1000R capstan belts visible in RU-vid videos seem to be much wider in dimension. I need to order the correct size. Thanks!
Each flywheel goes to a capstan roller. If you're looking inside the back, as shown in this video, the left side flywheel is for the right side roller, and the right side flywheel is for the left side roller.
I can audition an adjustment issue even on the shitty sound of YT. I like the Dragon and the CR-7 a lot. However, I sold bothe the Dragon and the CR-7 when I got the TCD 3014A and the TCD 910. I always keep the decks untill I find better and I have been searching all my life for the best cassette deck. No cassette decks does perform with higher quality of sound than Tandberg TCD 910. Another thing is that these Nakamichi decks - up until the MR-1 model - had incompatibility issues withe all other cassette decks following the official standard for cassette decks. Playing a tape recorded on a Dragon on a deck of another brand will cause linearity issues and noise issues. And vice versa. I am so sad that all the tapes I recorded through the years on the Dragon and the CR-7E are proprietary to be played back on the Nakamichi decks if I want the full out of them. I have the service bulletin from nakamichi about this issue. Nakamichi thought back then that the Cassette standardization would follow their way of doing it. It didn't.
You are NOT describing a B&O 9000 cassette deck. There are several pictured here on RU-vid. The cassette mechanism and controls were under a metal flap. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gfXReIaXkDE.html
Nakamichi Dragons were good in their day and still are (if) they are working with good belts and transports but the Sony K707ES mid-drive is also very capable and I would have to say, is about on par with a Nakamichi Dragon. It also has Dolby S which outputs the signal-to-noise ratio of a cd and almost rivals an Akai GX-93. I have a lesser Nakamichi LX-3 & LX-5 but these machines are both susceptible to tape saturation as they are sensitive at the top end if the record level is set too high and it's easy to have this issue on these. The Sony and (definitely), the Akai not nearly as much and the Akai can surpass the output S/N of a cd at around 120 dB. If the source (is) a little dull, it can always be brightened up with an aural exciter before it is tape recorded to any cassette recorder but yes, only the upper end brands and/or models can handle the tremendous increase in treble from an aural exciter. Lesser and/or just plain, cheap quality cassette recorders will break up with the input sound levels from an aural exciter, especially at the high end.
Yes, their audio high-end is limited and have only appx. 75dB record level headroom even with the Dolby-C on both. I know I shouldn't really do this but I had to actually adjust the azimuth set-screw for the erase, record, and then playback heads on my LX-3. The LX-5 started smoking out of the back right when I bought it as I bought it used on Ebay(buyer beware) and the previous owner lied and told me it was fine. So, needless to say, this one was never useable from then onwards.
I own a CR-7A and a Dragon now and I can't believe it, I just got the Dragon, it sounds like a 505 but better, and beats the CR-7A, not by much, but it does.
a kazetta felvétel minősége nagyon gyenge még a naka misi sem tud minőséget adni mindamellett borzasztóan drága és bonyolult 1600 dollár az akai gx 4000D 70 dollár és fölényesen jobb 19 cm/sec sebességen nem ugyanaz a kategória, pedig 20-szor drágább a kazetta elfuserált, mert keskeny a szalag, alacsony a 4,75 cm/sec sebesség, rossz a szalagvezetés és semmilyen elektromos varázslat sem javítja ki ha minőséget akarsz, felejtsd el a kazettát
I don't usually hand out compliments ~ but this is easily one of the most useful, straight forward and enjoyable repair videos. Thanks for NOT making me suffer though a painful loud obnoxious introduction with hideous heavy metal music.
Actually he is wrong Albin because with digital, all highs have been clip at the top end and are also being compressed as well. Not with older vintage analog sound. This is pure, uncompressed original formatted music. Records have more musical info preserved in them then CDs as well. This was already proven in a sound laboratory test back in the early 90's. These tests were documented by a lot of high-end stereo magazine publications back then, as well.
puh some years after the Pioneer with Dolby S was called the Dragonkiller...puh...I doubt....puh Dragon is definately the most complicated , solid and best deck, then comes the CR-7, Studer, Revox, Teac, Sony, Akai, Onkyo, Technics, JVC, Aiwa, pioneer, Kenwood, Alpine, Grundig, Philips, Marantz, Mitsubishi, Rotel, Schneider and many many more lol...choose your order of preference lol
Such a devisive device. The argument about which is/was best will go on forever. No doubt though that the Dragon will always be regarded as on of the best. I dont think frequency specs beyond 20k hz matter much and they certainly don't decide the overall performance of a deck. In 1989 the Dragon was still king in Germany. Then by 1996 the hierarchy had changed and the German Hifi magazine Stereoplay had the following ranking: The Pioneer CT-S 830S, 920S, Sony TC-K 890 ES, 990ES, Teac V-6030, V-7010, V-8030 were all ranked in a class higher (Spitzenklasse I) than the Dragon. The Sony TC-KA 6 ES stood alone in a class even higher than the decks that outranked the Dragon.
hahaha I did not read your post before I wrote mine and I was not too far away with my order of preference or quality...Sony, Teac hehehe. perhaps we are righty
I was watching one of your videos...think it was the review of a sony amp that a fan of yours asked you to do in a shop by your house. Anyways, somebody put in a link to another video for you to watch, which was all about cassettes and you said in your comment, ''you learned a lot from it'' So i watched the same video as you and l learned that everybody thought that this thing nakamichi dragon was ''supposed'' to be the best cassette deck. My question is, I learned in the previous video that dolby came out with dolby B, C then S. If this thing has no dolby s how can it be the best in the world?
Yes your pioneer ct-95 have dolby s i am not sure if the dragon has it.... Keep up the good work on your videos Andrew! How are you anyway? I heard (well, i read) you were not well with high BP etc... i know how you feel...i am 35 years old and my BP is 180/110!! But i control it by walking and less salt in food..healthy eating... but i smoke so that is no good!!
Hi. Yes the doctor keep telling me i am so young so i do bring it down to my best reading 150/90 but i should stop smoking....stress is not good for me either. Yes diet can be enjoyable...no fried food is better. Plenty of walking...may be 10 mins at a time if you can not do more, then may be try in 3 hours for another 10 mins. Yeah i love ur videos so i always watch something and learn something new from you. I will talk to you again on ur own channel very soon. Take care my friend!
That's true across the board with any cassette deck, expensive or not. Dolby is only an auditory illusory 'parlor trick' to the ears that, once turned off, returns the entire frequency range of the music back to it's original musical state and thus, quiets down the entire song, except for the added tape hiss and any imperfections in the recording tape and/or the recorded signal from the original which is (why) Dolby was invented to begin with. Even cheap tape decks can benefit across the entire musical spectrum by simply not recording with Dolby altogether, even if using Type 1 Normal bias tapes(as long as the original is pristine). To quiet a Type 1 tape, use a tape deck which permits Type III (LN;Low Noise) setting to be used. Tape hiss will diminish even more just by using this setting. Designed for Low-Noise Certron cassettes but they were phased out in the 70's. The best type tape was the Metal tapes but they were expensive and then they got to be increasingly rare.
