Nakamichi Dragon

[Klangquali]

I've only listened to parts of tracks so far, but I think it reveals how poor commercial prerecorded cassettes were! LP is light years ahead, and I don't have a CD player in my main system. My only experience with reel to reel (outside shows where I've been treated to some of Bruce B's and others' Studer and UHA 15 IPS and 30 IPS wonders) is many years ago, and that was only a 7.5 IPS model.
...

That was what I thought as well in former times but nowadays I changed my mind. If you listen to a music cassette from a very good deck this could change your mind as well. Here an example for very good sound quality for a prerecorded cassette:

 

[ack]

Hi Rick,
The dragon was supposed to be the best deck for playback of pre recorded cassettes as it constantly monitored the azimuth of the playback head (NAAC System) and adjusted for best frequency response on the fly. The dragon was the only cassette deck ever made that did this to my knowledge. As for recording I think the best decks in the Nackamichi range were probably the ZXL1000 and the ZX9. Another stand out for playback is the 682ZX. I still use my decks but not as much as I used to, as I got infected with a R2R Studer bug. Ha Ha
Cheers
Graham

Still feel bad about selling my 682ZX - outstanding performance and perfect operation up till I sold it a few years ago; the fluorescent screen was still bright green. BIG Sigh!

 

[Englishaudiophile]

This reminds me that I still have a TD-1200 mkII stored away. This was the incar equivalent of the Dragon for mobile use.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Nakamichi Dragon - $890 CDN
http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/649126490-tape_deck_nakamichi_dragon/

 

[flez007]

Heard it some days back at Xavier's place:

!

 

[flez007]

I agree with Steve, great deck!

 

[topoxforddoc]

Listening to my Nak Dragon this evening. Mine was overhauled by Alex Nikitin (ANT4066) a few years ago with a full set of ANT 4066 mods. Still sounds much better than any cassette format should.

 

[Abbinormal]

They offered the "gold" option for the Nakamichi 1000, but I'm not aware of a gold dragon.

The gold Nak was a limited production version of the 1000ZXL. The only difference between the limited production piece and the standard 1000ZXL was the gold faceplate and a couple of thousand in price.