Hello from Italy

[Plissken]

Hello everybody, I am new to the forum. Just registered. I was recently directed here by a link in the hifi shark website whilst looking for 2nd hand gear.

My current system is centred on a Yamaha AV receiver (RX-A3030) connected to Pioneer series 7 and series 8 speakers, which I bought initially for viewing laserdiscs and bluray discs. It all started when I was looking for a decent AV setup for a Pioneer CLD-D925 laserdisc player paired with a Yamaha APD-1 RF demodulator plus an Oppo BDP -103d bluray player.

Starting from a simple 5.1 AV setup I felt the urge to add vintage audio gear (Nakamichi BX300 tape deck, Sony DTC-750 DAT deck, Marantz SX-72 scratch noise suppression, Onkyo MD -105FX hi md deck) and a turntable (Pro-Ject RPM 5.1 with SpeedBox S, Ortofon 2m Blue, Heed Questar MM phono stage). The most recent additions are some of the best portables manufactured by Sony from 1982 to 2011 (PS-F9, WM-D6C, WM-DC2, WM-DD9, MZ-R91, MZ-RH1). The portables are connected to two Kramer 4x4a switches and then to the 2nd input of the Marantz SX -72.
Everything is working fine at present with the only exception of the Nakamichi BX300. I am looking for Nakamichi spares as well as a PSU for the phono stage.

I listen to heavy metal and hard rock of the 70s, 80s and 90s mainly on vinyl and HI-MD. I am quite happy with the system because I am able to enjoy good audio from a system that was initially put together just for home theatre use.

[walpurgis]

Hi Salvatore. Welcome to AOS.

That's an interesting selection of gear you've collected.

Feel free to join in the chat, everybody is friendly and you never know, somebody may have some Nakamichi parts to spare.


Enjoy the forum,
Geoff.

[hifinutt]

welcome , been enjoying some of italy`s finest hi fi in recent years i.e grandinote and unison research . good to have you

also pleased you have got a good sound from an av receiver , makes sense to keep boxes to a minimum

[Barry]

Welcome to AoS Salvatore.

Hope you manage to get your Nakamichi tape deck fixed soon. What exactly is wrong with it?

Enjoy the Forum
Barry

[Plissken]

Thanks to all for the welcome.
To Barry: I am answering your question here. Perhaps it would be better to continue the discussion on Nakamichi deck faults somewhere else in the forum.
The Nakamichi BX300 quite unexpectedly ate one valuable tape a few weeks ago. I didn't happen while the tape was playing. I left the tape in the cassette well and switched the deck off for a while. A few minutes later I switched it back on but it failed. Blinking lights and transport not responding to the usual commends. Being unable to open the cassette door I finally managed to obtain some response by moving the timer slider to the play position and switching the deck back on. I managed to remove the tape that in the mean time had been chewed by the right side pinch roller. I opened the deck and found the control motor unresponsive. I followed the advice from the Web to lubricate the control motor by spraying some Kontak 61 inside the motor through two small openings in the back. The deck is working but, as a precaution, I am using only cheap Maxell URs: from my point of view it is still faulty. After that nasty episode I wrote and spoke to a number of experts for advice because I was and still am worried it can happen again. I got mixed opinions on this: one technician, very well known and respected for his experience in servicing Naks, wrote that it has to do with the idler tyre. Another one said on the phone that the problem is the capstan motor. Others said that they had to look at it.
Your opinions are appreciated.

[Barry]

Thanks to all for the welcome.
To Barry: I am answering your question here. Perhaps it would be better to continue the discussion on Nakamichi deck faults somewhere else in the forum.
The Nakamichi BX300 quite unexpectedly ate one valuable tape a few weeks ago. I didn't happen while the tape was playing. I left the tape in the cassette well and switched the deck off for a while. A few minutes later I switched it back on but it failed. Blinking lights and transport not responding to the usual commends. Being unable to open the cassette door I finally managed to obtain some response by moving the timer slider to the play position and switching the deck back on. I managed to remove the tape that in the mean time had been chewed by the right side pinch roller. I opened the deck and found the control motor unresponsive. I followed the advice from the Web to lubricate the control motor by spraying some Kontak 61 inside the motor through two small openings in the back. The deck is working but, as a precaution, I am using only cheap Maxell URs: from my point of view it is still faulty. After that nasty episode I wrote and spoke to a number of experts for advice because I was and still am worried it can happen again. I got mixed opinions on this: one technician, very well known and respected for his experience in servicing Naks, wrote that it has to do with the idler tyre. Another one said on the phone that the problem is the capstan motor. Others said that they had to look at it.
Your opinions are appreciated.

Hello Salvatore,

Glad to read you have sorted your BX-300, but can understand your disquiet that the problem could re-occur.

I have a couple of Nakamichi decks: a BX-2 and a BX-125. I don't use them these days but when I did I found them to be very reliable; having made over 200 tapes (using TDK MA tape) over a period of ten years or so.

Have you spoken to the importers of Nakamichi in Italy? Although the machines are no longer made, they may have some advice they can give you. Also you could try contacting Bowers & Wilkins, as they are/were the UK import agents and would undertake the repair and servicing of Nakamichi machines. They would service and calibrate my machines every couple of years.

[Plissken]

Thank you very much for your suggestions, Barry. I have tried to contact the former importers of Nakamichi in Italy to no avail. I will certainly contact Bowers & Wilkins.