prophet@umcp-cs.UUCP (Dennis Gibbs) (03/03/85)
<> >2) Has anybody compared the old Nakamichi LX-5 to the new BX-300? Or the LX-3 > to the BX-150? I mean listening to them, not specs. The LX-3 has a better > drive system than the BX-150, but the BX-150 is a later model, so you might > expect better implementation, better circuits, ... I bought an LX-5 about a year ago, and when the BX-300 came out with seemingly the same features as my LX-5 for $200 less, I was curious if there were any differences. I talked to a salesman that I know (one salesman whose opinion I really do value) and he claimed that he asked a Nakamichi factory rep- resentative the same question. (This salesman has an LX-5 of his own). This representative said that there were basically two major differences between the LX-5 and the BX-300. One is the transport. The transport on the Nakamichi LX-5 is Nakamichi's finest transport, the diffused-resonance dual capstan sys- tem. He said that although the BX-300 transport has the same features, the two are NOT the same! The BX-300's transport is a miniturized version of the LX-5 tranport. It is not quite as sturdy as the one on the LX-5, and hence will tend to have more resonances in it. However, the BX-300 does have a direct drive motor in it, which lowers wow and flutter somewhat from the LX-5. Also, he said that the entire BX-series is Nakamichi's "budget" line, where they are trying to bring you the most performance at the lowest possible price. Hence, they tend to make much use of integrated circuits to help make production costs cheaper. He said the LX-5 makes more use of discrete components instead of integrated circuits. However, the Nakamichi repre- sentative claims that the integrated circuit technology they are using is just as quiet as the discrete type components on the LX-5. I didn't ask if they were continuing (or discontinuing) the LX series, but I assume they will be discontinued. However, earlier this week I went to my favorite stereo shop (which was having their once-a-year sale), and they had the LX-5 there for $825, only a $25 discount from list. That's not much of a discount for something that is supposedly going to be discontinued. I listened to the BX-300 for awhile, and it is indeed a fine-sounding deck, but I did not A/B it with the LX-5. 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