Nakamichi 1000- the deck to die for

[reubensm]

Its sad to see the legend lie is bits on the foot board of a scooter, in such a poor state.

 

[Selvin]

Many gurus say that the DR series was compromised by NAK to keep costs down. There are many theories about the DR series being inferior to other earlier NAK models but from my experience, the DR3 is one of the best 2-head decks ever from the NAK stable. It could easily match or outsmart many 3-head cassette decks of those times. However, there were a few NAK models that were very special and ahead of the rest. The 1000 is one of these. Hence the DR series may be good, but it definitely cannot match the 1000. The debate of the 1000 vs the Dragon would be a more on-par one.

I am not seen much difference about quality on DR series and earlier decks. Even they used the same mechanism in DR10 which they used in Deck1. But I felt earlier Nak decks inside cables dressing are very neat than in DR series.

Here the inside view of my DR-10.



Mechanism view:

 

[kuruvilajacob]

Its sad to see the legend lie is bits on the foot board of a scooter, in such a poor state.

Reuben,
Yes. It was sad that I had to bring it on a scooter. But I was so careful about that and I knew that the Deck was so solid in construction and if it could survive a journey from the Northern end of India, it can stand a small scooter ride. I am sure the Nak 1000 must have created history being the only one to have had a scooter ride! I wish there were professionals who would record on tapes for me even now. The quality of those tapes are amazing. I am yet to attempt to record from NAK 1000.

 

[kuruvilajacob]

When my mechanic opened up the Nak 1000, he commented that the soldering was so neat and solid, that it was done so well he was not surprised that there were no dry soldering even though it was lying in some junkyard covered in muck for several years. Most probably the soldering must have been gold soldering. Nak 100 cost $1300 in 1972. That's a lot of money for a Tape Deck.

 

[reubensm]

$1300 in 1972

$1300 in 1972 will be close to $8000 today, after adjustments for inflation over the years, which is about 4.8L INR (that's the finance guy in me, speaking )

 

[reubensm]

Yes, the difference apparently is not that visible but what gurus say is that less expensive mass produced components were used.

However, if you open up the DR and look it up, the work inside is just as good, if not better than any other previous NAK models. Of all the DR models, the DR1 (3-head) and DR-3 (2-head) were considered to be the best (and also are the more expensive ones on the pre-used market). There are lot of conflicting opinions but there is a school of thought that suggests that the DR3 was perhaps one of the best ever 2-head decks from the NAK stable, if not the best. It had a mix of contemporary technology of the times blended with a great design and a very high quality build. But all this is stuff which I have read online and is debatable. I have thoroughly enjoyed my DR3. On Sunday this week, I took it to our local Church and recorded the Church service for 45 minutes, with a line output, direct from the Harman 12 channel mixer. I have never heard a home made live recording sound so good. Simply brilliant!!

 

[Falcon21]

sorry a little late to see the pics
but

arrey wah! beautiful hai ji
vintage!