[net.audio] Cassette deck advice

prophet@umcp-cs.UUCP (Dennis Gibbs) (02/22/85)

<>



>I'm looking to buy a cassette deck ($300 - $400) range, possible local
>(Columbus, OH) or mail order (ie: Illinois Audio, or Direct Sight and Sound
>of Alanta).  Several choices I've had recommended are:
>	1) JVC KD-V6          local ~$299        mail ~$229
>	2) Nakamichi LX-3     local ~$599        mail ~$399
>	3) Onkyo TA-2056      local ~$369
>	4) Sony TC-K555       local ~$399        mail ~$329
>
>As of right now I`m leaning towards the Nak and planning on buying
>it mail order.  Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated 
>especially from owners of the above decks, or people who have bought
>from Direct Sight and Sound (they have a smallish add in the back of
>Stereo Review Mar 85).
>
>A salesman trying to put down the Nak mentioned that Nak aligns
>the heads on their decks different from most other decks, is this
>true? Isn`t there some kind of standard?
>
>
>                                    Gene Levine  (614) 860-4337
>                                    ATT Bell Labs Columbus

I would highly recommend the Nakamichi LX-3.  I have an LX-5, which I
purchased after quite an exhaustive search for  a  decent  tape  deck
that I could afford.  My LX-5 is a year old,  and  it  still  records
music so well that I cannot tell the difference  when  I  A/B between
the source and the tape.  The LX-5 is identical to  the  LX-3  except
the LX-5 has three heads and double dolby.  A friend of  mine  bought
an LX-3 after seeing my LX-5, and he is very pleased with his.

You are correct that Nakamichi aligns their heads  differently;  They
do it RIGHT!  Many of the cheaper brands do not even bother to  align
heads before the unit leaves the factory.  Nakamichi differs in  this
regard; they have very extensive quality control.

Also, all Nakamichi tape decks conform PRECISELY to the IEC  standard
and will give very flat frequency response from any tape recorded  to
these standards.  Some cheaper decks do  not  conform  well  to  this
standard; the people who own these non-standard  decks  will  try  to
tell you that Nakamichi's decks are non-standard.  Don't you  believe
that one bit!

The only caution that I would like to advise you of is the fact  that
you said you will be ordering the deck mail order.  If you  do  this,
make sure that there is a place  that  can  service  your  deck.   In
general, I advise against buying a tape deck mail order,  because the
heads could lose their precise alignment during shipping.   Also,   a
good non-mail order store can set up the deck using the brand of tape
that you intend to use.  Good Service is very important!

                             Dennis

-- 
Call-Me:   Dennis Gibbs, Univ. of Md. Comp. Sci. Center.
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bob@pedsgd.UUCP (Robert A. Weiler) (09/18/85)

Organization : Perkin-Elmer DSG, Tinton Falls NJ
Keywords: Dolby-C, HX-Pro 


Well, I am nearly ready to buy a new cassette deck and need advice,
product reviews, etc. I currently have Dolby-C in my car ( Kenwood 7300)
and at work ( Sony WMCD2 ) but still have an antique at home. BTW, both
of these devices have worked well for me so far. My only reservation is
that they both combine type II/IV equalization. I am primarily
interested in recording CD's at home for play elsewhere.  In general,
my priorities are:

1) Price < $400
2) Dolby-C
3) Headroom		( implies HX-Pro? )
4) Reliability
5) 3 heads

Decks I have considered so far:

MODEL		N-heads Noise Reduction Price	Comments
TEAC 530X	2?	B/C/Dbx		$119	From SCA - a bargain+1/2!!
AIWA ADF660	3	B/C/HX		$250	Seems cheaply made
HK 291,391,491	2,2,3?	B/C/HX		????
YAMAHA 720	2?	B/C/HX/Dbx	$300	Auto-Reverse
NAD 6155	2?	B/C/HX		$320	Spartan
NAK BX125	2?	B/C		$360	Non-Standard?

One strange note - the salesfolk at Woodbridge Stereo are saying
that HX-Pro is a subtefuge used by 'lesser' decks to compensate
for the inferiority of their heads as opposed to the NAK. Since I
had understood that the intent was to get around the physical limits
of the *tape* this seems like BS; is it?
Any comments on any of these decks, or others I may have missed,
are appreciated.

Bob Weiler.

brad@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Brad Spear) (09/24/85)

In article <275@pedsgd.UUCP> bob@pedsgd.UUCP (Robert A. Weiler) writes:
> ...
> One strange note - the salesfolk at Woodbridge Stereo are saying
> that HX-Pro is a subtefuge used by 'lesser' decks to compensate
> for the inferiority of their heads as opposed to the NAK. ...

I think the salesfolk at Woodbridge are a bit biased towards the NAK.
Many quality manufacturers use HX-Pro, generally in their high-end units.
(based on the manufacturer's specs in the Oct '85 issue of Audio magazine).

Having just gone through the job of finding a new tape deck, I checked
just what HX-Pro does (or is supposed to do).  In short, it changes bias
levels depending on the high frequency content of the program material.
This is supposed to overcome at least some of the deficiences of the tape.

If HX-Pro is a subterfuge, then don't bother getting noise reduction
either, since the noise in a tape is obviously because of the heads only,
and never the tape. (:-)) I'm not sure what kind of distortion HX-Pro
introduces, if any, but the MEASURABLE distortion on HX-Pro equipment seem
to be as low as on any other deck.

Brad Spear
sdcrdcf!brad

dca@edison.UUCP (David C. Albrecht) (09/30/85)

> In article <275@pedsgd.UUCP> bob@pedsgd.UUCP (Robert A. Weiler) writes:
> > ...
> > One strange note - the salesfolk at Woodbridge Stereo are saying
> > that HX-Pro is a subtefuge used by 'lesser' decks to compensate
> > for the inferiority of their heads as opposed to the NAK. ...
> 
> I think the salesfolk at Woodbridge are a bit biased towards the NAK.
> Many quality manufacturers use HX-Pro, generally in their high-end units.
> (based on the manufacturer's specs in the Oct '85 issue of Audio magazine).
> 
> Having just gone through the job of finding a new tape deck, I checked
> just what HX-Pro does (or is supposed to do).  In short, it changes bias
> levels depending on the high frequency content of the program material.
> This is supposed to overcome at least some of the deficiences of the tape.
> 

The point to be made here, I think is that some of the decks (not all but
some) which incorporate Dolby HX have pretty mediocre response without
the HX and very good response with it.  This says to me that HX can act
as a 'subterfuge' if you want to call it that.  Imagine how good a NAK
deck would be with HX on it.

I have also heard and this is imperfectly remembered speculation that
NAK uses a higher bias frequency which gives some of the same results
as HX.

David Albrecht