Nakamichi Cassette Decks

The styling preferences are really a matter of opinion...to each their own taste, as they say.  I was impressed enough back then to buy both, although I primarily purchased the Dragon on the basis of performance.  The heads on both decks have very little wear, since most of my listening was done on the other 700ZXL and my Pioneer RT-701 reel to reel decks.  The 700ZXL with the most wear was sold off, as was the Pioneer, leaving both remaining decks in excellent condition.  Both have very little head wear, and both have all original boxes, packaging, etc., including the accessory pack and sealed tapes (for the 700ZXL).  I also never played tapes from any other person's deck, as tapes can pick up contaminants that can increase head wear.  Yes, I was one of "those" audiophiles...but except for the unavoidable belt rot, both decks are gems.  Neither had been played much, if at all, since the beginning of the current millennium.  Last time I turned them on, all the lights came on, but the tapes did not advance.  At that point, I turned them off and checked the internet...found out about the belt rot issue...and unplugged them.  Since my source is now an Esoteric X-01 Limited CD player, I'm torn about restoring either or both decks...

I’ve own lots of decks and recorded a number of live bands to two track cassette. I’ve owned Tandberg, Nak (4 different ones), Denon, Sony, Kyocera, Fisher, and others. Naks are good but if you want as good or better sound the sleeper is a Sony TCK71. You can pick one up for 150 and it plays as well of better than a Nak.

I had the Sony Ka3ES and wished I hadn't sold it.

There is a Nak Dragon for sale near me, he wants $1600, it has been for sold for at least a month or so. They are bit like (to me) the HD V-Rod motorcycle, great to look at, but nothing else. I have a Nak DR-3 tucked away in a far off country.
How does a Pioneer CT-F1000 (fully serviced $600 also a local sale) compare to the Naks?Cassette tapes go for 25c/50c at my local thrift store.

I bought a LX5 at a Lion's sale for $20. I took it to the local audiophile store (small, been in business for 40 years) and they said they could refurbish it for $200.  They said: "I've had a look at your Nakamichi cassette deck and it will need a few things to get it up and running again. Belts are in need of replacement, but in addition, the pinch roller arms are ceased up (unit's been unused for some time?) and will need lubrication. Unfortunately access to them and disassembly is somewhat labour intensive. It could quite possibly involve a service charge of $200.00 to get this fine old girl up and running again. Please advise if this meets with your expectations in regards to repair cost."  I want to use it to transfer some old live music cassettes into my system. I am ok if eq needs to be adjusted (because tapes were not originally recorded on a Naka)-- I run a recording studio and plan to master them anyway. As well, would like to occasionally track parts on the Naka and then digitize them and include them into projects I am working on.  I'd appreciate any feedback on what quality deck I might have after this servicing was done...