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recommend excellent cassette for playback only?

I need an excellent cassette deck for playback only, for archiving old recordings. No desire to record cassettes in this day and age. Much of the cost and complexity of a deck relates to recording, and I'm not asking "what's the best deck", i.e. Tandberg, Revox, Naks. As I recall, it was said that some dual-well cassettes were truly excellent in this regard as they had a dedicated playback head which was optimized for that purpose - consequently, as good or better than the best 3-head decks for playback. Any info and recommendations along these lines would be appreciated. I think some Pioneer were well regarded, and Onkyo and Kyocera may have been manufactured by Nakamichi. btw, this has come about because my Dragon needs repair - and the estimate for a rebuild could be over $2000 and a one-year wait!
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elevick
2,638 posts
 
My Dragon took about 6 months and $850 for the rebuild. However, you need to keep in mind that many tapes made on your dragon won't sound as good on some other decks. I have a dual well Teac W-850R if you are interested. It was $825 new but wayyyy less now. I like it much better than my dragon for the simplicity and dubbing features. I have the remote and original box too. Emery Emfoods@yahoo.com
jopi88
27 posts
 
stop looking, pionner elite series i believe model is cd-94, the best of the best.-
kennyt's avatar
kennyt
1,226 posts
 
I agree with Elevick, tapes made on Nak decks sound far better when played back on them, this was one reason I never had one (my brother did, sounded great there, but like POS elsewhere)

I would buy something cheap and get the Dragon rebuilt, it's a piece of audio history and one of the best looking decks to boot.
rockvirgo
587 posts
 
When my Nak CR3A needed repair I was also fed a large rebuild quote. When I made it more clear I wanted it in working condition it cost one third as much.
chashmal
605 posts
 
I have always thought that the old NAD 6300 was as good or better than the Dragon. It is essentially a Tandberg deck with an NAD cover. I had 2, in addition to a Dragon, back in the old days. I absolutely loved them.
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