I sold Nakamichi back in the day. When new, the BX-1 was the least expensive deck that Nakamichi marketed. It was the entry model of their first BX series decks (BX-1, BX-2, BX-3). As I recall, the BX-1 sold for $300 new, so it was still considered a non-trivial expense back in the early eighties. Very basic deck (e.g. two heads, instead of three, so no off the tape monitoring while recording, and drum-style mechanical tape counter), but solidly built and a reasonable performer. Little known fact: the less expensive decks from Nakamichi were actually more service-friendly than many of their more expensive models. I owned their top of the line Dragon for several years, but got rid of it after it needed repair and NO ONE could fix it properly. I still have a Nak for playing my old cassettes, but it's a BX-300 (the 3-head machine from the later BX series decks). It rocks!
Hi! 6:32. Definitely, the capstan always needs to be lubricated. In that case it even looks like he was completely dry. Lets say you have made a very decent job! You are on the right path in the footsteps of the excellent Hifirulezzz (if you don't know who he is I seriously recommend taking a look at his website. You will be hooked!) Thanks for the video!
The copper springs underneath the wheels are to discharge static electricity. Any rubbing of rubber materials will build up a big static charge. So they are giving it some springiness while at the same time grounding the wheels. very clever.
Swell video of BX-1 "guts". I picked up a restored BX-1 several years back for $75 and use it in my 900+ cu/ft kitchen hifi system. It's pretty boss for a budget deck. One caveat is Dolby-B only but that's minor carping. It functions smoothly, has decent meters (ten segment, -30 to +5), microprocessor controls, good functional layout and sleek looks. It ain't the Dragon but satisfies my needs.
The transport is similar to some of the Onkyo models but that single screw in the top is unique. Never seen that before. Great camera work and excellent editing. Enjoy the new toy.
I bought a BX-2 for my secondary stereo (the one in the dining room) and I liked it so much I bought a rebuilt one for my main stereo in the entertainment room. Hell of a deck for $200.
I bought a Nakamichi tm-1 back around 1999, and my lord was that radio was insane in how well it sounded. None of my Bose radios came close to it. So sad when it quit on me. I have one now that I hope to mod to take AUX input.
Damping cylinder: you need to clean it and grease it with tubing o-ring silicone grease. The swing arm usually drives the take up reel. The leaf foil springs seem to actually be clutch pressure plates, the hubs should have integrated slipping clutches. I've never taken one completely apart except I own one which is in my up for sale inventory. If you ever lose one of those plastic clips it can be a good idea to save a suitable plastic sheet and get some punching tools: you drill a hole of a desired size in your plastic sheet and punch a disc around it. I've come to the conclusion it is the best way to deal with it, there are too many sizes and no parts supplier that I know of. The electronics is very complete and cleanly laid out, the sound is very pleasant must be due to their tweaking of the EQ... not sure it is accurate but definitely Nakamichi.
Nice work on this deck! I have the BX-2 myself, and it had the same issue as yours, which is caused by that little rubber wheel behind the cassette compartment being old and dried out (which is probably also why you got it to break so easily). These decks were pretty low end, but certainly are kind of nice and have a really well made mech (even if the motors on these like to get dead spots, which also happened on my unit). However I often see these decks being held up to compete with other high end 2 head or 3 head decks, which they simply don’t do. Nakamichi as a whole definitely made some of the best performing cassette decks, though I often see the company being regarded way better then they are, so unless you find another Nak for cheap like this one, I personally wouldn’t buy a higher ended model.
If it's a Nakamichi and does not have, not just no bias control but not even 3 heads, or Dolby C, well, you can really bet no matter how much it was the most basic model of whatever year it was sold in. And still, thinking of a deck made today as decent as this is a wet dream.
i have two decks with half the work done ,one starts at full steam but after so much time one gives up and thinks "tomorrow i´ll finish" but one looks to the decks and think ,"not today but next weekend " than other more important things have to be done and the decks are waiting with everything properly baged ,maybe next month
To me, the Nakamichi BX-1 is the gold standard for a high quality basic 2-head cassette deck. The playback and record abilities of this deck exceed that of many “high end” and 3-head decks that I have owned. Sadly, I regret selling mine and would not let one go if you can get your hands on one. I enjoy your repair videos and I look forward to see what you will be fixing next!
Nope had one of these and even my mediocre Onkiyo 3 head made better tapes . So I really only use the BX-1 for playback. Sorry but a two head deck is always going to fall short for recording it's just a matter of gap width and pure physics. The playback gap is so much narrower and can't be widened much to have good playback so the recording side will always be compromised with a single head for recording and playback. You got what you paid for with cassette decks and there just wasn't any magic bullet in the 2 head decks that could make a truly better tape than a 3 head one. No not even my NAD 2 head always wished I spent a little more and got an inexpensive Sony 3 head instead or any others bottom 3 head. Because the 2 head recordings only sounded OK in the the deck that made the tape. The 3 head tapes sounded good in any deck it didn't matter much if it had 2 o 3 heads. And yes the top end ones made excellent tapes no matter what tape you put in it to record with like a TDK D series just as a fine example of a cheap tape and you didn't have to go all the way to getting a Dragon my JVC DD-7 is pretty good and extremely reliable well over 15,000 hours on it and only a few minor problems that were easily fixed. No bias control so some tapes work best fortunately the mainstays always work well.
People still use cassettes? I owned an RX-202 many years ago and it developed a problem in the mechanism that turned the tape around to the other side. Nakamichi doesn't make anything high end any longer and much of what they make is sound bars!
i think it´s the reverse , the high-end models might work good when new but never used them as a regular deck or in a couple of years you´ll have nothing ,it was proven against several other decks in late 80´s, that they weren´t that good also were cheaper compared to other brands high-end decks. The reason why i bought two dragons, first i thought i had put there badly built cassettes that demanded a lot of power from the deck to make the reels inside the casing rotate ,than i started to use only maxell, sony and tdk but maybe because of the excessive heat where i live the parts that are related to playing the cassette itself become fastly out of shape, like some mid 80´s sony doble decks ,i already had at home a mid 70´s nakamichi deck from my father with 3 heads and it recorded just fine ,but after he bought a revox complete system , the deck was amazing good, i started to use it and that´s why i bought my first dragon. Also was using a pioneer CT-F1000 that in my opinion was much better ,still is today with regular maintenance it records with a very good sound. When compared with a CT-939 ,from pioneer late 80´s catalog or a Akai gx something and a Denon DRM-800a , all were better but the denon was desqualified because they changed the way the source sounded like if it had some kind of loudness, but in reality one if wanting to buy a high-end deck for less money the Denon was the one to choose, in my opinion , Nakamichi as well engeniered decks the problems his being built with the cheapest materials(or cheaper plastic) i today have a cassette deck 1 , a ZX-9 and a CR-7 ,all sound perfect but only used them for a litle amount of time, this afraid of having the same fate as the Dragon ,but no the 3 decks i refered are really good but when comparing it to some pioneers i have (top-end models) they sound amazing good and worked for a lot of hours, i have to mention also the 680ZX that was a good deck for the time being
Nakamichi decks are very well made BUT the resale price is way to high for what they are. My cousin has the model directly below the dragon and the tapes sound awesome played back on that deck but they sound very flat played back on any other non Nac deck. I personally like Yamaha decks made in the late 80s early 90s and they sound fantastic I don’t really understand the resurgence to get back into cassettes as any CD burner will record far better audio on them than a tape and it’s just better if the original audio files are not compressed.
people just don´t learn ,in the 80´s one had to read good hi-fi magazines to get informed about the quality of some decks ,in my opinion they are well engeniered but badly built like no other ,i gave up using nakamichi allthough i have 3 decks in my colection, this model being the one that never gave me problems with regular maintenance ,maybe it´s their best early 80´s deck, like Sting said in a song "history will teach us nothing" we are doomed to make the same mistakes over and over, this aplied to cassette decks
got a bx2 and some replacment belts a few months ago. have been putting off taking it apart to replace. this is helping, i assume the mechanism is largely similar.
Thanks for the video ! But I would calibrate with the oscilloscope set to a much lower voltage / div, so the oscilloscope can measure the frequency much better. And in addition I would connect a frequency counter, then it would be perfect 🙂
Had one sold it, the motors on these need constant use. They don't like to sit and they will oxidize up and not play / play properly. To be honest compared for the era to a sony deck, get a sony. The reliability, and ease of working on trumps Nakamichi's name. In saying that my go-2-deck is a Denon DR-M4 from 1983.
2:12 - someone had tried to oil the mech before, excess oil destroyed the paint. Is this piece plastic? It usually happens to painted metal, often with gross corrosion under the peeling-off paint.
Greetings I have an onkyo c50 cassette deck. Unfortunately, I don't have an amplifier to power it. Is there a way to power the deck so it can start up? Thanks
I've owned quite a few Naks and they were all very competent, I had a CR2 2 header which was probably the best 2 header I experienced, a 480z which was great to and had the classic transport with the pad-lifter (not the later used Sankyo transport). The big sticking point for me is that unless you have a Nak with playback azimuth control somehow they don't like tapes recorded on any other deck even other Naks. Why is that? If the heads are align correctly it shouldn't be a problem but somehow in my experience Naks are very picky with their cassette tape recordings from other decks
sorry but it´s the revese and the reason people think they are good , you might have a big problem in your deck , try to repair it, all is related with the azimuth or maybe the cassettes you´re using are not that good
Nice production at a good pace, Like Tape Hate Vinyl. Some people want Gold for these Naka cassette decks, ie: CL this blood sucker wanted 3K for a Dragon, you what kind of a Reel to Reel I can buy for 3K.
