Opinions about Nakamichi Dragon- repairs

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Curt Palme

Well-Known Member

Nov 21, 2013

#1

Gentlemen, I don't see a 'cassette' forum, so I need to ask here.

I have a chance to locally buy what looks like a near mint condition Nakamichi Dragon for a 'reasonable' price. Problem is, it doesn't work. Seems like a nice enough seller, and I believe he's a second owner. He bought it in nonworking shape, wanting to repair it, and went as far as ordering a belt kit for it, but never got into it. He claimed that it played but didn't FF or REW, then stopped altogether.

A local shop told him it was a bad CPU board, but he said he called a good Nak repair depot in the US (I looked them up, that's all they do) and they quoted him $1000 for a full overhaul, which he didn't want to do. The US repair shop told him that the Dragon CPU boards never die, and he figured mechanism issues. that's what I believe as well, that this is strictly a mechanical issue. I'm taking a cassette down tonight to check the deck out. The going rate of what he's selling the deck for is about what a nonworking one goes for on eBay right now.

I'm not asking for a diagnosis here, all I want to know is if anyone here has worked on one before, and how hard is it to change the belts and idlers? I've worked on lots of cassette decks before, and I know they range from easy to insanely hard. Most decks are pretty easy, but I had one Aiwa top of the line deck here that I actually gave up on, it was so hard to get into the mechanism.

So, any comments?

thanks!
Curt

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator

Nov 21, 2013

#2

I hope you are successful. My Nakamichi Dragon was one of those pieces of equipment that I ever regretted selling

Bruce B

WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member

Nov 21, 2013

#3

The Dragon I have won't leave my cold dead hands..

There is a place in Seattle, Condor Electronics that have great rates and have worked on my Nak. They are an OEM warranty repair center for a lot of pro companies.

Ki Choi

Member Sponsor

Nov 21, 2013

#4

I didn't know about Condor Electronics... learn something new everyday.

My two Dragons are signing well to their original specs but two supporting Nak T-100 Audio Analyzers weren't so healthy. So I sent them to:

Tom Brucker
Hi Tech Service
2934 Nolensville Pk.
Nashville, TN 37211
615-331-9241
hitech@BIRCH.net
theProSquad.com

Ki

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Curt Palme

Well-Known Member

Nov 21, 2013

#5

Yep, a buddy of mine went back to Hong Kong for holidays in the summer of 1981, our graduation year, and he brought back a new one in the box. Apparently it was about $800 over there at that time, I think they were going for $1200-1400 Canadian new? I was jealous as heck, but I had an Akai GX630D that I'd bought new 2 years earlier, so he was catching up. I've got two 3 head lower end Naks, one found at the dump of all places. Both work fine.. but they're not a Dragon!

I've got a Nak T100 analyzer as well. and a Soundtech 1700B amp analyzer and also the tape deck one.. whatever that model number is. I use the Nak daily, I've never hooked up the Soundtechs.. I really need to get on that!

I am a board level tech, so I do all my own work. If I can't fix it, I sell it AS IS on eBay.

astrotoy

VIP/Donor

Nov 21, 2013

#6

Curt, you can join the Nakamichi List-Serv. I have a Dragon I bought new, 30 plus years ago. Still works. I had it tuned up by a fellow who lives in my town, who is one of the most respected Nak technicians on this list, Willy Hermann.

http://www.naks.com/mailman/listinfo/naktalk

That should get you on the list.

Larry

rockitman

Member Sponsor

Nov 21, 2013

#7

what I find most amazing is that you guys still have cassette tapes.

M

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member

Nov 21, 2013

#8

rockitman said:
what I find most amazing is that you guys still have cassette tapes.

ever heard a top notch nakamichi deck?

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator

Nov 21, 2013

#9

mep said:
ever heard a top notch nakamichi deck?

I agree

As I said I kick myself that I sold mine

The sound was superb and the look and function of it was 20 years ahead of itself

rockitman

Member Sponsor

Nov 21, 2013

#10

mep said:
ever heard a top notch nakamichi deck?

We'll of course. I don't consider cassette hi end reproduction however.

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gamve

Well-Known Member

Nov 21, 2013

#11

rockitman said:
We'll of course. I don't consider cassette hi end reproduction however.

Well you must have never have had the pleasure of listening to a well sorted nakamichi cassette deck then.

rockitman

Member Sponsor

Nov 21, 2013

#12

gamve said:
Well you must have never have had the pleasure of listening to a well sorted nakamichi cassette deck then.

Back in the day, sure...it was the best. Today, in my system ? Cassette vs my RTR tape or vinyl....it's not a fair contest. I gave away 1500 cassettes 8 years ago. End of story for me.

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Curt Palme

Well-Known Member

Nov 22, 2013

#13

Rockitman, I'd argue with you, but then again I have 150 CRT projectors in stock.

Well, I bought the beast. Nice physical condition, the heads show zero wear. Could be a more complex or hopefully a simpler problem than expected. I was expecting a belt or idler issue, but with a cassette in the transport, none of the transport functions do anything whatsoever. I then also realized that the transport function LEDs do nothing, nor does the tape counter light up. So, this is most likely an electronics issue rather than a mechanical one. I got some funds knocked off the price, so if I can't nail it, then at least I can break even on eBay. I dive into it this weekend.

Steve, this one will be for sale once it's running and certified to make dogs howl with its high end frequency response, so if you're interested, PM me and I'll let you know when it's done.

Oh, and I still have probably 500-800 cassettes, a lot recorded while I was DJing and beatmixing back in the mid to late 80s.

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gamve

Well-Known Member

Nov 22, 2013

#14

rockitman said:
Back in the day, sure...it was the best. Today, in my system ? Cassette vs my RTR tape or vinyl....it's not a fair contest. I gave away 1500 cassettes 8 years ago. End of story for me.

I played back some of my Yarlung mastertapes from a Studer A80RC and recorded them with a Nakamichi ZX7 using a good quality metal tape. I swear that your average everyday commercially available 10K tuntable set up would not even come close in sound quality to the playback of this ZX7 when the recording is made from excellent source material. I thought the same as you about cassettes until I actually started experimenting with them again. I think in my previous thoughts I had forgotten just how **** my sound reproduction gear was when I was a poverty stricken youngster. I wonder just how good this technology would be now if it had not been **** canned by the crappy cheap digital dross we are served these days.

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Curt Palme

Well-Known Member

Nov 27, 2013

#15

Well, it took about 6 hours, but it's running! A well known local repair depot diagnosed that it was the main CPU chip that went bad, someone had (poorly) installed a socket for it, however all signals coming off it measured fine. the issue was originally that most of the deck was bad, but after resoldering some bad solder joints, it went back to the original problem- no takeup reel tension in either direction play mode. After a bunch of hours chasing logic signals, I realized that the logic voltage in one area went from 0 to 4 volts instead of 0 to 12 volts. turns out a tiny transistor in the power supply driving the logic circuit had gone leaky. Had stock, installed it, deck powered up fine, and is flat to 20Khz as expected.

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gamve

Well-Known Member

Nov 28, 2013

#16

Nice Curt. Enjoy

microstrip

VIP/Donor

Nov 28, 2013

#17

Curt Palme said:
Well, it took about 6 hours, but it's running! A well known local repair depot diagnosed that it was the main CPU chip that went bad, someone had (poorly) installed a socket for it, however all signals coming off it measured fine. the issue was originally that most of the deck was bad, but after resoldering some bad solder joints, it went back to the original problem- no takeup reel tension in either direction play mode. After a bunch of hours chasing logic signals, I realized that the logic voltage in one area went from 0 to 4 volts instead of 0 to 12 volts. turns out a tiny transistor in the power supply driving the logic circuit had gone leaky. Had stock, installed it, deck powered up fine, and is flat to 20Khz as expected.

Congratulations - servicing these units is not an easy job! As more people on WBF seem to own Dragon's I would remember that the extremely complete service manual for it is available at the HifiEngine site: http://www.hifiengine.com/library/nakamichi/dragon.shtml

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Curt Palme

Well-Known Member

Dec 3, 2013

#18

I got mine from a Russian site I believe, the HifiEngine schematic wasn't complete. From a disassembly point, it was actually pretty easy. It was really nice to see that Nak left long enough leads to be able to take out a PC board while leaving it connected to service and measure test points. Ditto for the bottom cover coming off completely.

I dare anyone to try and fix this deck:

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/aiwa_stereo_cassette_deck_ad_f_14.html

This was my main deck in college and beyond. Superb specs, 3 heads. Used it for 20 or so years until the FF/REW idler died, and I'd moved on to CDs. Tried pulling this out of storage last year to work on it. Not a chance! Googled it, and even die hard techs shy away from this one due to the complexity of the mechanism. Will most likely throw it on eBay for cheap. I got really good use out of it, but always hate throwing out high end electronics, especially when I was the one that owned it...

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gamve

Well-Known Member

Dec 7, 2013

#19

Curt Palme said:
I got mine from a Russian site I believe, the HifiEngine schematic wasn't complete. From a disassembly point, it was actually pretty easy. It was really nice to see that Nak left long enough leads to be able to take out a PC board while leaving it connected to service and measure test points. Ditto for the bottom cover coming off completely.

I dare anyone to try and fix this deck:

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/aiwa_stereo_cassette_deck_ad_f_14.html

This was my main deck in college and beyond. Superb specs, 3 heads. Used it for 20 or so years until the FF/REW idler died, and I'd moved on to CDs. Tried pulling this out of storage last year to work on it. Not a chance! Googled it, and even die hard techs shy away from this one due to the complexity of the mechanism. Will most likely throw it on eBay for cheap. I got really good use out of it, but always hate throwing out high end electronics, especially when I was the one that owned it...

Yeah thanks for reminding me. I have one of these that needs belts....Dreading the job

dminches

Well-Known Member

Mar 18, 2014

#20

If you are still looking for a place to restore your Dragon you should contact Peter and sound-smith.com. He is THE master.

Opinions about Nakamichi Dragon- repairs

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