Nakamichi cassette playback in non-Nak deck?

Hey Swampwalker, I'm going to look at a NAD 6100 deck from their "Monitor Series" line (circa 1989) for sale locally. Probably a step or two down from the 6300 (It's not a 3-head deck), but looks like a very nice deck nonetheless with low hours offered by the original owner. The price is right and this may be a fine choice for my needs. Pryso- I will bring my walkman to see how the tapes recorded on it sound. Thanks all! -jz

good luck w it.

My roommate in college had the Nak that was one below the Dragon - don't remember the model number - this would have been about 1980. It made the most amazing tapes I have ever heard (he had a very good preamp and turntable/cartridge combination too). It was in the shop as much as it was plugged into his system, and I used to tease him about owning a Nakamichi instead of a Ferrari, but that is another story. Not sure this argues for buying a high end Nak used now, but the performance of that machine when it was working to specs was un-fricking-believable. I have recorded using a lot of other higher end decks from Sony, Teac, etc., but nothing even came close.

Those Nak recorded tapes played back much better than fine on any car deck and the few home decks I have played them on. I still have them ALL and they ALL still work and sound great - all Maxell's high bias tapes of the that period... FWIW

Well Audiogoners, sometimes you just get lucky. On Friday I went to look at the NAD 6100 cassette deck and ended up buying the matching cd player and receiver, too! The seller would have sold the tape deck by itself but the other components were so nice I just had to buy the set. It didn't hurt that his asking price for all three components was very reasonable. Thanks John, if you are reading this! He included the original remotes and the owner's manuals and a brochure for the whole NAD Monitor Series lineup from the early '90's. Lots of good information and detailed specs with color photos.

The tape deck is virtually like new, as advertised, and lucky for me so are the cd player (model 5000) and receiver (model 7400). Although the tape deck is not a three-head, it does have Dolby B, C and HX Pro, adjustable fine bias, remote and great specs. Looks like I found my deck! Everything was plugged in so I got to make a sample recording. The tape sounded very , very close to the cd source AND it sounded great in my walkman. This system will become my main rig in the house for stereo music once I move my surround gear to the garage for the new home theater I plan to build out later this year. I can't wait to hear that NAD amp with my Rev One's!

Somebody mentioned already Pioneer CT-S800 - it produces excellent playbacks for cassettes recorded both on my Nak RX505 and 680ZX. BTW, Revox B-215 does the same. Who said that Nak recordings sound good only on Nak ? The bottom line is that if you calibrate the azimuth of the playback head any good deck will playback Nak recordings just fine.

Dimitar