Which Nakamichi to choose?

inna

On another note, Willy really upset me last time ... next time I am not sure I will ship the deck to him, maybe to Soundsmith.

Wow. You don't like Willy. You don't like ES Labs. If you're not nice to Soundsmith, you risk running out of competent techs for your tape decks. BTW, Soundsmith service is pricey. You might want to know that before you call them and tell them to go to hell, too. They are worth it, though. But I expect to pay good money for expert service.

Inna, you're right about Willy Hermann. He specializes in aligning decks to work better than new. He worked on four of mine and he is amazing. I'm not sure how quickly he turns work around but it was usually only a couple of weeks, but I picked the units up each time. I still have an RX-505 and it works like new (maybe better). I sold my ZX-9 about a year ago, along with 2000 cassettes and box sets, for more than $2000. I regret selling it. One of my first Nakamichi decks was a CR-7A, and I really regret selling it. I still have a few hundred cassettes and I really like listening to them, always without Dolby. It seems to limit the highs.

 Let’s not forget that Nakamichi decks even now hold a good value if serviced by the previous owner. Some of the models mentioned in this thread are rare and very expensive to buy if well maintained by previous owner.  If you want a good Nak deck which records good and sounds good for playback consider the BX-300. It does not have the remotely controlled Azimuth adjustment like CR-7A but it sounds very close to it and its specs are very similar to CR-7A. You can find it more easily in good condition for $200-$300. 

Too much angst and complexity with the big decks. Nothing wrong with the Sony Walkman portable Cassette players as far as I can tell. No power cords, no interconnects, no fuses, no transformers. Tape is a natural medium. It breaths. Dynamic, sweet and airy.

I admit I am fond of the Nakamichi Dragon CD System, though, what with the vacuum surrounding the CD whilst spinning.

Many thanks to all for the good advices. To answer in general to some comments, no I am not a novice to tape but just happened in this ever digital and stream-groing world to have refound deep appreciation for music being stored on a physical medium.
I happened to have made tons of mix tapes. The work that goes in it, the time but to so gratifying result from it has drawn me back to cassette decks.
In the meantime I have purchased one of the two. It has become the Cassettedeck 1 and I must say I am impressed. So is my wife, who comes from a different generation having grown up making CD-R and minidisc compilations, she thought the music source I was playing from was digital. Big kudos for the Nak. And once again, thanks to all for the wonderful advice.