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. UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!prophet CSNet: prophet@umcp-cs BITNET: GIBBS@UMDB ARPA: prophet@Maryland
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