Nakamichi Dragon Cassette Deck

If you're not familiar with the legendary Nakamichi Dragon, it's the best cassette deck ever made. It has automatic head azimuth adjustment in playback mode, which means that all cassettes sound as good as it's possible for them to sound no matter how they were recorded. You'll be amazed at how good those old prerecorded tapes you have stored in a box sound.

For recording it has separate, external sensitivity and bias adjustments for each of the three cassette types, so you don't have to optimize the deck every time you switch brands or types of tape. That's what all the knobs in the front are for. It's a three-head deck so you can hear your recordings as you're making them.

I got this Dragon at a great price because of the cosmetic condition, which I didn't care about. I don't know anything about the previous owner(s) except that they didn't use it much. There are dings on the lower-front corners on both sides, which look like shipping damage to me. It also has small chips on the top front edge.

I knew I was taking a chance but you can tell how much use a Dragon has had by the embossed symbols on the eject button and the transport controls. Look at the pictures. The acid in the oil on skin eats the color away. If it's completely gone, you probably don't want that deck.

When it arrived I had it checked out and tested by a trusted technician who worked for a high-end audio store. People in the Boston area would know who I'm talking about. He said the transport was clean, the heads and pinch rollers were like brand new, and everything was working perfectly. It didn't need belts or an idler tire. It's still functionally perfect to the best of my knowledge. If it weren't for the cosmetics I'd be asking twice as much.

The serial number is 25613, which indicates that it was made toward the end of the production run, which is a good thing. The first ones made (lowest serial numbers) are known to have the most problems.

I used it only for the A/D conversion of 20-30 master tapes, all recorded on a Nakamichi 550 or a Sony WMD-6 Pro using Maxell XLII-S. I used only American Recorder S-721H professional cleaning fluid on the heads and pinch rollers - never alcohol. I have about an inch of S-721H fluid left in a double-sealed bottle that I'll include if you want it.

I'll give you the Owner's Manual and the Service Manual PDFs on a CD-R or thumb drive. I'll print out the Owner's Manual if you like.