Nakamichi BX300 - Awesome Quality

[jayants]

Finally laid my head on Nakamichi BX300 which is a 3 Head Deck.I consider myself lucky to get this deck in such pristine condition at a very good price...............real value for money.The person who was using it has maintained the Deck immensely well and I even checked the inside of the deck after opening up.The motor,head,pinch roller are all original and in excellent condition.

Before procuring this I was going through writeups/discussions in various foras about Nakamichi decks,specially the debate between 3 head and 2 head decks.Its not easy to get a good condition Nak in India and depending on OLX without even auditioning is like chancing ur luck,So when I bumped into it without much confusion about 2 or 3 head I just bought it after seeing its output.I recorded few songs both from FM and as well as Vinyls and man they really sound awesome.

I don't know what lies in store for me as 3 Heads are extremely complicated and difficult to service...............but I didn't have a choice.

 

[reubensm]

Recordings of NAKs are well and truly out of this world. I have compared my Nak to many decks, including popular decks like the Denon DRM500. My Nak beat them all hands down with both playback and recording. The only deck which came close was the Grundig CF5500-2

 

[vkirti]

Congrats on your new (old) purchase. Now you need to source some cassettes from friends and family. Transferring from vinyl is a good idea !

 

[reubensm]

A piece of advice, please use only new tapes with this desk, if you plan to use old ones, make sure that they dont have fungus and oxide release. If you use good new tapes, then your deck will last even longer. Stay away from 90 minute cassettes, 60 minute cassettes are the best deal. Running the deck for 30 minutes at a stretch is fine but when you run it for 45 minutes per side, wear increases

Also when not in use, keep a cassette inside the pocket. This will reduce the amount of dust that can enter through the cassette pocket openings.

 

[jayants]

A piece of advice, please use only new tapes with this desk, if you plan to use old ones, make sure that they dont have fungus and oxide release. If you use good new tapes, then your deck will last even longer. Stay away from 90 minute cassettes, 60 minute cassettes are the best deal. Running the deck for 30 minutes at a stretch is fine but when you run it for 45 minutes per side, wear increases

Also when not in use, keep a cassette inside the pocket. This will reduce the amount of dust that can enter through the cassette pocket openings.

Thanks for your valuable advice.I am a Hindi retro freak and my bad luck is most of these cassettes are old ones which I listen to.They either belong to me for years now or sourced them 2nd hand.As you rightly pointed out fungus is a big issue and this can create trouble to my Nak.So I am in the process of picking and chosing while playing on NAK . Any doubtful cassette gets played on my 2nd deck only.

The only issue which I am facing rightnow is cleaning the Head and Pinch Roller because there is not much space when the cassette cover opens and I need to dig deep in if at all those need to be cleaned.Any pointers on this?

 

[jayants]

Congrats on your new (old) purchase. Now you need to source some cassettes from friends and family. Transferring from vinyl is a good idea !

Yes transferring from Vinyl is one of the major reasons for investing in this Machine.Analog to Analog should really make my day I hope.

 

[jayants]

Recordings of NAKs are well and truly out of this world. I have compared my Nak to many decks, including popular decks like the Denon DRM500. My Nak beat them all hands down with both playback and recording. The only deck which came close was the Grundig CF5500-2

I have not yet explored fully on the Recording front though its on Top Priority.There are too many buttons which needs a careful understanding before taking the plunge.But casually I did record a few from FM and Vinyl and needless to say they indeed sound heavenly and that too on a new ordinary T Series 60 min cassette.

 

[reubensm]

So you have a lot of those Rs.18/- T-Series and Rs.22/- Venus and Tips tapes eh?

Nostalgia!!

But please be careful. A Nak is all too valuable to chance on an old T-series tape. From my experience with "normal" tapes, TDK is by far the best, followed by Sony. Maxell tends to be easily available but is not that great.

 

[jayants]

So you have a lot of those Rs.18/- T-Series and Rs.22/- Venus and Tips tapes eh?

Nostalgia!!

But please be careful. A Nak is all too valuable to chance on an old T-series tape. From my experience with "normal" tapes, TDK is by far the best, followed by Sony. Maxell tends to be easily available but is not that great.

Hi hi......can't throw off those original HMV.EMI,Polydor,Pan Music cassettes as I store those for all the value I get.And believe me some of them still sounds awesome.

What I am facing issues is the Blank Cassette as now only those 30/- T series stuffs are available.Need to get hold of TDK.

Any idea about the issue of cleaning the pinchroller and head which I asked?

 

[reubensm]

The only issue which I am facing rightnow is cleaning the Head and Pinch Roller because there is not much space when the cassette cover opens and I need to dig deep in if at all those need to be cleaned.Any pointers on this?

Cleaning heads and pinch rollers on Naks is very easy, you'll have to slip out the cassette lid cover. Here's how I do it on my DR3:

step-1, press eject button:

step-2, gently slip up the pocket lid:

step-3, carefully lift out the pocket lid after the clips disengage from the grooves on the cassette pocket:

step-4, you now have access to the entire head and roller assembly, clean these carefully, don't use alcoholic cleaners on rubber and plastic parts:

step-5, once done, carefully slip back the lid clips into the cassette pocket grooves and slide it down, back on

and you're done!!

 

[reubensm]

on another note, sorry for the low-grade pics, did this using my cell phone camera with normal room lighting

 

[jayants]

on another note, sorry for the low-grade pics, did this using my cell phone camera with normal room lighting

Awesome!!

Actually I was contemplating of opening the Cover but thought against thinking if something goes wrong then I am goneeeeee

Now will try this.Thanks a lot.

 

[reubensm]

Awesome!!

Actually I was contemplating of opening the Cover but thought against thinking if something goes wrong then I am goneeeeee

Now will try this.Thanks a lot.

Don't worry, I felt the same initially as my deck was too valuable for me to experiment on.

I got this info from a fellow Nak enthusiast on Audiokarma.org and ever since, I've been easily doing this.

Please try not to clean the heads and pinch roller too often. Maintain a cleaning schedule. The rule is, if you play good tapes, you'll need to clean less often. Avoid cleaning the pinch roller too often unless it develops oxide staining. Never apply too much pressure on the heads and capstan while cleaning.

 

[jayants]

Don't worry, I felt the same initially as my deck was too valuable for me to experiment on.

I got this info from a fellow Nak enthusiast on Audiokarma.org and ever since, I've been easily doing this.

Please try not to clean the heads and pinch roller too often. Maintain a cleaning schedule. The rule is, if you play good tapes, you'll need to clean less often. Avoid cleaning the pinch roller too often unless it develops oxide staining. Never apply too much pressure on the heads and capstan while cleaning.

Yes I have the same fear but will try out soon.Will keep all those inputs of yours in mind.Thanks a lot.

 

[jay]

Congratulations on your new purchase.I am still looking for one.

 

[jayants]

Congratulations on your new purchase.I am still looking for one.

Thanks. Enjoying every bit of it. Never got such retro flavour before in this analogue mode.

 

[jls001]

step-3, carefully lift out the pocket lid after the clips disengage from the grooves on the cassette pocket:

That removable cover is seriously cool! Makes cleaning so much easier. How I wish I had something like that in my cassette player. I used to be quite particular about cleaning the head and rollers during my college days.

 

[jls001]

BTW, are blank cassettes still available? I used to favour Sony for my mix tapes. I still have some blank Maxells and Sonys.

 

[reubensm]

BTW, are blank cassettes still available? I used to favour Sony for my mix tapes. I still have some blank Maxells and Sonys.

blanks are hard to come by, usually only Maxells and Sonys are available. TDKs have disappeared.

 

[reubensm]

Thanks. Enjoying every bit of it. Never got such retro flavour before in this analogue mode.

when I listen to my NAK, I sometimes wonder why CDs were invented in the first place (guess the answer to that question is - mostly only NAKs sounded like this and NAKs were not for the normal individual, they were expensive and were affordable for only a select few)