New Marantz, Same Unforgettable Sound - 1st Sep 2020

[Art Vandelay]

Originally Posted by Dilettante

Never heard of EPI speakers before. Must have been long before I was born. lol.
Back in the 1980s my dad used to have a Nakmichi Dragon cassette deck player and he told me it was one of the best sounding cassette deck player ever made. I wish I was around to experience that back then. He kept the Dragon till early to mid 1990s I think.

I'm probably around your dad's age (56) and had 8 Nak tape decks over the years including a Dragon and still have three Nakamichi cassette decks, but they obviously don't get much play time these days. My 700ZXL is probably the best and my all-time fav, but the ZX-7 and LX-5 are not too far behind. The Dragon and ZX-9 were the best performers overall imo. The main reason for having cassette decks back in the 80's was to record favorite vinyl LP's in order to minimize wear and tear of the vinyl, and the top Nak decks were capable of an essentially flawless dub of any vinyl LP or CD source, particularly with Dolby C NR and using a TDK SA-X or MA tape.

I think half the fun was in the setting up, cleaning, demagnetizing, and calibrating / tuning the deck to the tape formulation, and similarly with vinyl there was tracking and speed optimization etc, so the process of recording vinyl to tape was quite involved and time consuming, but very rewarding when it all went to plan.

[Crumhorn]

Originally Posted by Art Vandelay

I'm probably around your dad's age (56) and had 8 Nak tape decks over the years including a Dragon and still have three Nakamichi cassette decks, but they obviously don't get much play time these days. My 700ZXL is probably the best and my all-time fav, but the ZX-7 and LX-5 are not too far behind. The Dragon and ZX-9 were the best performers overall imo. The main reason for having cassette decks back in the 80's was to record favorite vinyl LP's in order to minimize wear and tear of the vinyl, and the top Nak decks were capable of an essentially flawless dub of any vinyl LP or CD source, particularly with Dolby C NR and using a TDK SA-X or MA tape.

I think half the fun was in the setting up, cleaning, demagnetizing, and calibrating / tuning the deck to the tape formulation, and similarly with vinyl there was tracking and speed optimization etc, so the process of recording vinyl to tape was quite involved and time consuming, but very rewarding when it all went to plan.

I still have my Nakamichi 700 ZXE (with the outboard Dolby-C) in my system, & I have the 700 Tri-Tracer in a store room. (I still have some tapes I haven't gotten around to burning to CD yet...) It did an excellent job, although, as you say, it was more trouble to record with than the Dragon...

SOTA Cosmos TT (vacuum, Electronic Flywheel), SME V, Koetsu Rosewood Signature
Esoteric X-05 SACD player, Alesis ML-9600 mastering CD burner, Nakamichi 700 ZXE Cassette Deck
Pass Labs XP-15 phono stage
Pass Labs XP-30 (SS) & Hovland HP-100 (tube) preamps
Edge G8+ laser-biased monoblocks & Classé M-700 monoblocks
Rockport Atria & Infinity IRS Beta Speakers
Audience AU24 SX Phono cable, MIT Shotgun ICs, Shunyata Alpha SCs
Revelation Audio Labs 'Passage' CryoSilver Reference DualConduit DB-25 umbilical cables for Pass XP-30
Shunyata Denali 6000T power conditioner (on BBA platform), Shunyata Alpha NR, Delta NR, & Venom HC PCs. Also PS8 & 2 Venom Defenders.
Audio Magic Ultimate SHD Bees Wax Fuse, Synergistic Research Blue & Black fuses, Hi-Fi Tuning fuses
Klaudio LP200 ultrasonic RCM

[Dilettante]

Originally Posted by Art Vandelay

I'm probably around your dad's age (56) and had 8 Nak tape decks over the years including a Dragon and still have three Nakamichi cassette decks, but they obviously don't get much play time these days. My 700ZXL is probably the best and my all-time fav, but the ZX-7 and LX-5 are not too far behind. The Dragon and ZX-9 were the best performers overall imo. The main reason for having cassette decks back in the 80's was to record favorite vinyl LP's in order to minimize wear and tear of the vinyl, and the top Nak decks were capable of an essentially flawless dub of any vinyl LP or CD source, particularly with Dolby C NR and using a TDK SA-X or MA tape.

I think half the fun was in the setting up, cleaning, demagnetizing, and calibrating / tuning the deck to the tape formulation, and similarly with vinyl there was tracking and speed optimization etc, so the process of recording vinyl to tape was quite involved and time consuming, but very rewarding when it all went to plan.

My dad was couple decades older than you. lol.....
He said the Nak Dragon & the Nak 1000 II were the best sounding cassette deck players. The Dragon was newer than the 1000 II. I wasn't sure if he's had the other Nakamichi decks, I think it was just those two.
Wow!! You've had so many Nak cassette deck players. Heard that Nakamichi was the king of cassette deck machines back then.

Yes, I remembered that my dad had to clean the heads quite frequently, tuning & calibrating his Nak decks. Yes, the top of the line Nak decks were surely capable of duplicating those vinyl qualities without significant loss in sound quality, unlike other cassette decks eg lower end Nak, Marantz, Technics, Sony, Pioneer, etc.

[Dilettante]

My dad said that Nakamichi was very popular where we originally came from (Jakarta, Indonesia) back then. And even when I moved to Seattle in the 90s the brand still gained popularity and was highly respected among audiophiles who were into cassette tapes.

[Crumhorn]

Nakamichi was definitely the gold standard for cassette decks, & its quality was rarely challenged by its competitors.

During the era of the 1000XL, it was the top of the line, with the 700 ZXL & 700 ZXE just below it but more (relatively) affordable. The Dragon came later, was more compact, & didn't require the azimuth setup that the earlier models did when recording, making it more convenient to use. But I think its "sound" was a little more hi-fi & a little less "musical" than the earlier 1000 & 700 series...

[Dilettante]

Originally Posted by Crumhorn

The original company, founded by Saul Marantz in Long Island, NY, was a very high end brand that started in the tube era & (I think) never made solid-state products. By the time I bought that receiver, they were Japanese, SS & decidedly mid-fi, but good mid-fi. The original American Marantz tube models are highly prized collectors items today.

Indeed.

[Dilettante]

Originally Posted by Crumhorn

Nakamichi was definitely the gold standard for cassette decks, & its quality was rarely challenged by its competitors.

During the era of the 1000XL, it was the top of the line, with the 700 ZXL & 700 ZXE just below it but more (relatively) affordable. The Dragon came later, was more compact, & didn't require the azimuth setup that the earlier models did when recording, making it more convenient to use. But I think its "sound" was a little more hi-fi & a little less "musical" than the earlier 1000 & 700 series...

I see. Thanks for all the info.
Is your Nakamichi 700 still running well now? Did you ever get it serviced of replace the heads?

By the way, did you get your SA-10? How's your impression of it? I'm sure you are still in the process of breaking in?

[Crumhorn]

I had my 700 ZXE serviced about 20 years ago, but I don't think the heads needed replacement. This past winter it started having a problem with the transport, which I assume needs its belts & rubber rollers replaced. I was going to take it in for repair this Spring, but Covid put that plan on hold...

Ivan emailed me this past Friday to say that Marantz had informed him that the ship date had been delayed until the end of Sept. So no music for me! Once I finally receive it, I'm going to "age" it for a few weeks before I unbox it, just to make sure it's safe Covid-wise... Thanks for asking.

[Dilettante]

Originally Posted by Crumhorn

I had my 700 ZXE serviced about 20 years ago, but I don't think the heads needed replacement. This past winter it started having a problem with the transport, which I assume needs its belts & rubber rollers replaced. I was going to take it in for repair this Spring, but Covid put that plan on hold...

Ivan emailed me this past Friday to say that Marantz had informed him that the ship date had been delayed until the end of Sept. So no music for me! Once I finally receive it, I'm going to "age" it for a few weeks before I unbox it, just to make sure it's safe Covid-wise... Thanks for asking.

When you receive your SA-10 you can just spray the shipping box/packaging with disinfectant spray or disinfectant wipes, and leg it sit for 15 to 20 minutes until you can touch it. Of just wash your hands after handling it altogether. It should be all good. You don't have to wait for few weeks before you can unbox it.

[Crumhorn]

Because I have a pre-existing lung condition, I prefer to err on the side of safety...