I've thoroughly enjoyed the recommendations on the Cassette's Not Dead thread... but it's left me wondering if my ZX-7 is 'up there' or not...

My personal criteria for any deck is going to be based upon it's playback capabilities. The one thing that the ZX-7 I currently own doesn't have is playback azimuth control. This has bothered me for a while because I don't like to fiddle with the azimuth on a machine once it's properly set up; otherwise you end up fiddling with it til kingdom come

In my opinion, playback azimuth control is the keys to the kingdom as far as tape playback is concerned. Get the transport, heads, electronics sorted and the result will still be poor if the original recording was made or duplicated on a machine that did not have the same alignment as the playback deck.

Am I placing too much emphasis on the adjustable-azimuth aspect?

How does the ZX-7 compare with the Nak CR-7 (which does have pb azimuth control). Am I likely to experience a revelation if I were to upgrade to a CR-7, Dragon or Tandberg 3014/911?

Are there any other decks I should be considering - bearing in mind my objective is to have the best machine for playback - so two heads working in perfect harmony is just as good as three!

I'd be interested in your views