My Sony TC-WA9ES dual cassette tape deck is broken an repair will run
about $200. If I should decide to replace instead of repair what two
or three best quality/value units would you reccomend. My application
is not professional but rather high-end, high-quality, high-volume
usage. Thanks, Hank Holman

Cassettes are a dying format and this deck is probably better
constructed than any new ones being currently manufactured.

Pioneer used to make some pretty good dual decks in their Elite line but
I don't know if they still do. And their recent offerings did not offer
Dolby C like the Sony.

You may be better off biting the bullet and fixing your Sony as it may
be better than anything you can buy new now.

You could always take a chance on eBay or Audiogon, but you may well end
up with someone else's problem.

Hank Holman wrote:
My Sony TC-WA9ES dual cassette tape deck is broken an repair will run
about $200. If I should decide to replace instead of repair what two
or three best quality/value units would you reccomend. My application
is not professional but rather high-end, high-quality, high-volume
usage. Thanks, Hank Holman

I think Tim is right, I had a single well Sony ES deck, nothing, even Naks
that I heard tapes from, matched the sound quality, and yes, it was well
built...

--
Best Regards,

Lou
"Hank Holman" wrote in message
news:FAbnb.41378$Tr4.86364@attbi_s03...
My Sony TC-WA9ES dual cassette tape deck is broken an repair will run
about $200. If I should decide to replace instead of repair what two
or three best quality/value units would you reccomend. My application
is not professional but rather high-end, high-quality, high-volume
usage. Thanks, Hank Holman

If you are comparing a Nak with a Sony, tapes made on a Nak would only
sound good on a Nak. They used a different equalization curve than any
other company. The results on a Nak to Nak were superb but not on a
different deck.

-MIKE

"---MIKE---" wrote in message
news:LIdnb.30039$mZ5.142517@attbi_s54...
If you are comparing a Nak with a Sony, tapes made on a Nak would only
sound good on a Nak. They used a different equalization curve than any
other company. The results on a Nak to Nak were superb but not on a
different deck.


True for three head Nakamichis, but not for two head.

Bill Balmer

Hi Mike,

I was speaking of Nak to Nak, but I was unaware of this, thanks for the
info.

--
Best Regards,

Lou
"---MIKE---" wrote in message
news:LIdnb.30039$mZ5.142517@attbi_s54...
If you are comparing a Nak with a Sony, tapes made on a Nak would only
sound good on a Nak. They used a different equalization curve than any
other company. The results on a Nak to Nak were superb but not on a
different deck.

-MIKE

Lou wrote:
Hi Mike,

I was speaking of Nak to Nak, but I was unaware of this, thanks for the
info.

--
Best Regards,

Lou
"---MIKE---" wrote in message
news:LIdnb.30039$mZ5.142517@attbi_s54...
If you are comparing a Nak with a Sony, tapes made on a Nak would only
sound good on a Nak. They used a different equalization curve than any
other company. The results on a Nak to Nak were superb but not on a
different deck.

-MIKE


AIUI it's not because of differernt EQ curves, but because of of
different playback head designs. E.g. from
http://www.sonicsense.com/nakfaq42.h...2.htm#naknonnk

Q: Do Nakamichi tapes not sound good on Non-Nak decks?

A: The degree to which this may bother a listener will vary. Nakamichi tapes are
certainly listenable on other machines but to fully appreciate the capability of a
Nakamichi deck the tape should be played on one. Since the gaps on both the record and
playback head is much narrower on a Nakamichi deck, the signal is recorded on a much
smaller portion of the tape. The result is clearer detail, definition, and reduced
crosstalk. However, other machines heads are not designed to read information in such a
small area. As a result high-end and overall sound quality is reduced. Of course when
this tape is placed in another Nak, all the sound is there and far surpasses what other
machines could reproduce from the beginning. Almost important--all must realize that
subtle differences in azimuth between any two decks can create as great (if not greater)
of a difference in sound quality between machines as the difference between Nak and
non-Nak decks.

--

-S.

Q: Do Nakamichi tapes not sound good on Non-Nak decks?

A: The degree to which this may bother a listener will vary. Nakamichi tapes
are
certainly listenable on other machines but to fully appreciate the capability
of a
Nakamichi deck the tape should be played on one. Since the gaps on both the
record and playback head is much narrower on a Nakamichi deck, the signal is
recorded on a much smaller portion of the tape. The result is clearer detail,
definition, and reduced crosstalk. However, other machines heads are not
designed to read information in such a small area. As a result high-end and
overall sound quality is reduced. Of course when this tape is placed in
another
Nak, all the sound is there and far surpasses what other machines could
reproduce from the beginning. Almost important--all must realize that subtle
differences in azimuth between any two decks can create as great (if not
greater) of a difference in sound quality between machines as the difference
between Nak and non-Nak decks.

Forgive me, but this is not (to the best of my knowledge) a correct explanation,
and it also contains a number of serious technical errors, regardless of whose
tape deck you're talking about.

Birefly... Nakamichi's playback heads appear to have been far superior to those
of any other manufacturer. They had much lower HF loss, and got more HF energy
off the tape. As a result, not as much HF pre-emphasis is needed during
recording. So Nak tapes tend to sound "dull" when played on other decks, while
recordings made on other decks tend to sound bright.

The first time I heard this was listening to a master tape dubbed onto a Sony
deck. The sound nearly sheared off my ears.

This is true -- for original tapes.

The "error" of playing a non-Nak tape on a Nak will be preserved when you copy
the tape to an identical Nak. So it should work.

Any thoughts?

I was speaking of Nak to Nak, but I was unaware of this,
thanks for the info.

If you are comparing a Nak with a Sony, tapes made on a Nak would
only sound good on a Nak. They used a different equalization curve
than any other company. The results on a Nak to Nak were superb
but not on a different deck.

William Sommerwerck wrote:
Q: Do Nakamichi tapes not sound good on Non-Nak decks?

A: The degree to which this may bother a listener will vary. Nakamichi tapes
are
certainly listenable on other machines but to fully appreciate the capability
of a
Nakamichi deck the tape should be played on one. Since the gaps on both the
record and playback head is much narrower on a Nakamichi deck, the signal is
recorded on a much smaller portion of the tape. The result is clearer detail,
definition, and reduced crosstalk. However, other machines heads are not
designed to read information in such a small area. As a result high-end and
overall sound quality is reduced. Of course when this tape is placed in
another
Nak, all the sound is there and far surpasses what other machines could
reproduce from the beginning. Almost important--all must realize that subtle
differences in azimuth between any two decks can create as great (if not
greater) of a difference in sound quality between machines as the difference
between Nak and non-Nak decks.

Forgive me, but this is not (to the best of my knowledge) a correct explanation,
and it also contains a number of serious technical errors, regardless of whose
tape deck you're talking about.

The fellow that runs the site claims that his company serviced and sold Naks for
years. His FAQ seems pretty thorough. I don't see anything there about an
EQ difference. It also includes this entry, which again
notes a design difference between Nak heads and others':

Q: Why does Nakamichi use different calibration tapes and are they really necessary?
A: As the head gap is different than other brands, the tape must be specially cut
using equipment that lines up properly with the Nak head. Using other tapes
will not result in the accurate alignment and bias/level calibrations
necessary to make a Nakamichi sound as it should.

Briefly... Nakamichi's playback heads appear to have been far superior to those
of any other manufacturer. They had much lower HF loss, and got more HF energy
off the tape. As a result, not as much HF pre-emphasis is needed during
recording. So Nak tapes tend to sound "dull" when played on other decks, while
recordings made on other decks tend to sound bright.

The first time I heard this was listening to a master tape dubbed onto a Sony
deck. The sound nearly sheared off my ears.

--

-S.

The fellow that runs the site claims that his company serviced and sold Naks
for years. His FAQ seems pretty thorough. I don't see anything there about an
EQ difference. It also includes this entry, which again notes a design
difference
between Nak heads and others':

Q: Why does Nakamichi use different calibration tapes and are they really
necessary?
A: As the head gap is different than other brands, the tape must be specially
cut
using equipment that lines up properly with the Nak head. Using other tapes
will not result in the accurate alignment and bias/level calibrations
necessary to make a Nakamichi sound as it should.

This is simply incorrect. It has nothing to do with Nakamichi heads, or the
heads for any other kind of analog tape recorder, regardless of format.

The Compact Cassette format had standards established by Philips. One of these
covered track width and location. No company could manufacture a deck with
non-standard track widths and/or locations and expect to get a Philips license.

Furthermore, head alignment has nothing to do, per se, with bias and level
calibration.

William Sommerwerck wrote:
The fellow that runs the site claims that his company serviced and sold Naks
for years. His FAQ seems pretty thorough. I don't see anything there about an
EQ difference. It also includes this entry, which again notes a design
difference
between Nak heads and others':

Q: Why does Nakamichi use different calibration tapes and are they really
necessary?
A: As the head gap is different than other brands, the tape must be specially
cut
using equipment that lines up properly with the Nak head. Using other tapes
will not result in the accurate alignment and bias/level calibrations
necessary to make a Nakamichi sound as it should.

This is simply incorrect. It has nothing to do with Nakamichi heads, or the
heads for any other kind of analog tape recorder, regardless of format.

The Compact Cassette format had standards established by Philips. One of these
covered track width and location. No company could manufacture a deck with
non-standard track widths and/or locations and expect to get a Philips license.

Furthermore, head alignment has nothing to do, per se, with bias and level
calibration.

Doing some more googling, I see the 'head gap difference' is a widely-distributed
belief (e.g., in the grateful dead tapers groups),
but I've also seen at least one more authoritative claim about an EQ
difference (from David Carlstrom).

Woudl you mind if I quoetd some of your posts in a n email to SonicSense and ELS,
the Nak repair folks? If nothing else, they may need to update the Nak FAQ
I quoted.

--

-S.

I never meant for my reply to the original poster's question to stir up
such a hornets nest about Nakamichi. I was simply of the opinion he
might be better off having his older Sony ES dual cassette repaired
rather than attempting to replace it with a newer model that might not
perform as well. I myself have an older Sony TC-K700ES single well deck
that has given me years of dependable service, only requiring one repair
for a broken spring that opens the cassette well door. I had the repair
done by the Sony repair center in Plano, TX, and while expensive, they
did a really good job and did a complete alignment, etc., while they
were working on it.

AFAIK, Nak never made or manufactured a dual cassette deck and sold it
under their own name so perhaps the thread should be renamed, which I did.

However, an interesting question has been raised about whether tapes
made on a Nakamichi will play back OK on another good non-Nakamichi deck
and vice-versa.

I've never owned a Nakamichi, only Sony ES and Pioneer Elite cassette
decks and they play back each other's tapes just fine (note: I've only
ever used Maxell or TDK tape, if that matters), and they sound pretty
darn good, too, no matter which deck I use.

If there is a difference on tapes made on a Nakamichi, can someone
please provide a brief, coherent response as to why they may (or may
not) play back OK on another good non-Nakamichi deck and vice-versa.

I'm curious about this now given all the discussion.

Thanks.

Steven Sullivan wrote:
William Sommerwerck wrote:

The fellow that runs the site claims that his company serviced and sold Naks
for years. His FAQ seems pretty thorough. I don't see anything there about an
EQ difference. It also includes this entry, which again notes a design

difference

between Nak heads and others':


Q: Why does Nakamichi use different calibration tapes and are they really

necessary?

A: As the head gap is different than other brands, the tape must be specially

cut

using equipment that lines up properly with the Nak head. Using other tapes
will not result in the accurate alignment and bias/level calibrations
necessary to make a Nakamichi sound as it should.


This is simply incorrect. It has nothing to do with Nakamichi heads, or the
heads for any other kind of analog tape recorder, regardless of format.


The Compact Cassette format had standards established by Philips. One of these
covered track width and location. No company could manufacture a deck with
non-standard track widths and/or locations and expect to get a Philips license.


Furthermore, head alignment has nothing to do, per se, with bias and level
calibration.


Doing some more googling, I see the 'head gap difference' is a widely-distributed
belief (e.g., in the grateful dead tapers groups),
but I've also seen at least one more authoritative claim about an EQ
difference (from David Carlstrom).

Woudl you mind if I quoetd some of your posts in a n email to SonicSense and ELS,
the Nak repair folks? If nothing else, they may need to update the Nak FAQ
I quoted.

(Hank Holman) wrote in message news:FAbnb.41378$Tr4.86364@attbi_s03...
My Sony TC-WA9ES dual cassette tape deck is broken an repair will run
about $200. If I should decide to replace instead of repair what two
or three best quality/value units would you reccomend. My application
is not professional but rather high-end, high-quality, high-volume
usage. Thanks, Hank Holman

Minidisc. You're using cassettes?

I keep hearing all of this about Nakamichi non-standard bias/eq, but,
have yet to hear any specifics on it or see it in print.
But, to try and answer your question: I have 3 high end Naks: a ZX-7
from ESLabs, a CR-7A, and a 682ZX. These are all 3 head machines with
the azimuth, bias, and level calibrating features. I use them for
recording my LP's onto tape. Both of my vehicles have cassette
receivers in them; an Eclipse cassette tuner in one and a Kenwood
cassette receiver in the other. Tapes recorded on any of my Naks sound
absolutely gorgeous in the non-Nak car decks.
Additionally, I do my own alignments on these 3 machines and I've also
aligned other peoples' Naks. For my calibration tapes, I use Teac and
Nakamichi calibration tapes for the alignments. Since the Nak
alignment tapes are getting harder to find, ESLabs suggested the Teac
cal tapes as good substitutes. The issue of a "correct" calibration
tape is not the brand, but, rather getting a cal tape with the correct
frequencies and tonals on the tape similar to a Nak cal tape. For
example, Nakamichi used a 15kHz tone tape to adjust playback azimuth;
I use the Teac 10kHz or 14kHz azimuth tape for this (instead of a 1kHz
or 3kHz azimuth tape for example). The Level tape is another example.
I use a Teac 400Hz Dolby Level tape for level adjustment - the Nak PB
level voltage has to be corrected by +0.8dB to compensate for the
difference in reference fluxivities between the Nak level tape
(IEC/DIN) and the Teac Dolby Level tape (ANSI). The only point I'm
trying to make is there are acceptable substitute cal tapes you can
use successfully providing you get something comparable to the Nak cal
tapes.
And, by the way, my Naks make absolutely beautiful tapes. I got rid of
my CD's.
For more info, see my Nak Cassette Deck page:
http://home.earthlink.net/~mbarrett

beartooth91

wrote in message news:8VTnb.56871$Tr4.128912@attbi_s03...
I never meant for my reply to the original poster's question to stir up
such a hornets nest about Nakamichi. I was simply of the opinion he
might be better off having his older Sony ES dual cassette repaired
rather than attempting to replace it with a newer model that might not
perform as well. I myself have an older Sony TC-K700ES single well deck
that has given me years of dependable service, only requiring one repair
for a broken spring that opens the cassette well door. I had the repair
done by the Sony repair center in Plano, TX, and while expensive, they
did a really good job and did a complete alignment, etc., while they
were working on it.

AFAIK, Nak never made or manufactured a dual cassette deck and sold it
under their own name so perhaps the thread should be renamed, which I did.

However, an interesting question has been raised about whether tapes
made on a Nakamichi will play back OK on another good non-Nakamichi deck
and vice-versa.

I've never owned a Nakamichi, only Sony ES and Pioneer Elite cassette
decks and they play back each other's tapes just fine (note: I've only
ever used Maxell or TDK tape, if that matters), and they sound pretty
darn good, too, no matter which deck I use.

If there is a difference on tapes made on a Nakamichi, can someone
please provide a brief, coherent response as to why they may (or may
not) play back OK on another good non-Nakamichi deck and vice-versa.

I'm curious about this now given all the discussion.

Thanks.

Steven Sullivan wrote:
William Sommerwerck wrote:

The fellow that runs the site claims that his company serviced and sold Naks
for years. His FAQ seems pretty thorough. I don't see anything there about an
EQ difference. It also includes this entry, which again notes a design

difference

between Nak heads and others':


Q: Why does Nakamichi use different calibration tapes and are they really

necessary?

A: As the head gap is different than other brands, the tape must be specially

cut

using equipment that lines up properly with the Nak head. Using other tapes
will not result in the accurate alignment and bias/level calibrations
necessary to make a Nakamichi sound as it should.


This is simply incorrect. It has nothing to do with Nakamichi heads, or the
heads for any other kind of analog tape recorder, regardless of format.


The Compact Cassette format had standards established by Philips. One of these
covered track width and location. No company could manufacture a deck with
non-standard track widths and/or locations and expect to get a Philips license.


Furthermore, head alignment has nothing to do, per se, with bias and level
calibration.


Doing some more googling, I see the 'head gap difference' is a widely-distributed
belief (e.g., in the grateful dead tapers groups),
but I've also seen at least one more authoritative claim about an EQ
difference (from David Carlstrom).

Woudl you mind if I quoetd some of your posts in a n email to SonicSense and ELS,
the Nak repair folks? If nothing else, they may need to update the Nak FAQ
I quoted.