The Best Cassette Decks Ever? How do they compare to the Nak ZX-7?

[twelvebears]

Hi Alex.

Looks fantastic, but on your 'out of ten' scale, how does it rate against your Aiwa XK-S7000?

Oh and for the other folks here, I can vouch that the XK-S7000 is the best deck I've heard so far and comfortably beat my DR-2, even after Alex had tuned it!

[Alex Nikitin]

Hi Alex.

Looks fantastic, but on your 'out of ten' scale, how does it rate against your Aiwa XK-S7000?

Playback on B215-S is not as good as on your Nak DR2, what else do I need to say? Without a serious modification this deck is just a nice looking toy, like so many other "top of the range" decks out there - Teac V-8030S for instance, or Technics RS-B965.

BTW, did you try the XK-S7000 yet? One more hidden treasure in there is an internal multibit DAC which can put to shame many expensive CD players, especially if the output filter opamp is replaced for something decent .

Alex

[Beechwoods]

I knew I should have put a cheeky bid in on that Aiwa

[twelvebears]

Playback on B215-S is not as good as on your Nak DR2, what else do I need to say? Without a serious modification this deck is just a nice looking toy, like so many other "top of the range" decks out there - Teac V-8030S for instance, or Technics RS-B965.

BTW, did you try the XK-S7000 yet? One more hidden treasure in there is an internal multibit DAC which can put to shame many expensive CD players, especially if the output filter opamp is replaced for something decent .

Alex

Hi Alex.

Nothing really, that says it all, especially as I know where my Nak sits relative to the XK-S7000, really can't thank you enough for that little revelation.

Actually I'm thinking of dubbing you 'Dr Deck' from now on....

I've not tried it yet, but I will do at some point this weekend. I've ordered the service parts you suggested by the way.

So is swapping the opamp easy?

[twelvebears]

I knew I should have put a cheeky bid in on that Aiwa

Well it would have had to have been more than a cheeky one, because after Alex's demo on Monday, I wasn't going to let it go without a fight.

I might have GOT it for £74, but that sure wasn't as high as I was prepared to go.

[Beechwoods]

[Spectral Morn]

I saw that Aiwa, but having sold them years ago and seeing the returns at the time and all the B, C, D, E grade stock.... I wasn't brave enough. Anyway R to R is my thing now.................mostly

Regards D S D L

[twelvebears]

I saw that Aiwa, but having sold them years ago and seeing the returns at the time and all the B, C, D, E grade stock.... I wasn't brave enough. Anyway R to R is my thing now.................mostly

Regards D S D L

Interesting you say that because Alex was very complementary about the quality of the internals and from the evidence, I'd say he's seen the inside of more types of different decks that anyone I could possibly think of....

I know what you mean though. I worked in Sevenoaks Hi-Fi as a Saturday job (trade discount, toys to play with and I actually loved getting to properly match customers up with kit that really worked for them rather than the company) for several years in the late 80s/early 90s and it was amazing how you'd get loads of particular bits of kit back for certain periods. But then you'd meet someone who had the same thing for years and swore it was as tough as old boots....

Makes you wonder if manufacturers go through bad patches?

[Alex Nikitin]

But then you'd meet someone who had the same thing for years and swore it was as tough as old boots....

What I would say about Aiwa XK-S7000 is that it would take a lot of abuse and still be serviceable after that. And given a proper service it would perform almost as good as new, unless the head is completely worn out. The mechanics on that Aiwa is one of the best made for a tape deck. The same/similar mechanism was used in Aiwa XK-007, XK-009, XK-S9000 and on some of Aiwa's lesser 3 head closed loop dual capstan decks. Weak bits on all Aiwa decks are belts and idlers, however these are easily replaced and available.

Alex

[Spectral Morn]

Interesting you say that because Alex was very complementary about the quality of the internals and from the evidence, I'd say he's seen the inside of more types of different decks that anyone I could possibly think of....

I know what you mean though. I worked in Sevenoaks Hi-Fi as a Saturday job (trade discount, toys to play with and I actually loved getting to properly match customers up with kit that really worked for them rather than the company) for several years in the late 80s/early 90s and it was amazing how you'd get loads of particular bits of kit back for certain periods. But then you'd meet someone who had the same thing for years and swore it was as tough as old boots....

Makes you wonder if manufacturers go through bad patches?

It was Aiwa cassette decks in general not the one you won (I have no experience of it/them). However the rest in the late 80's to mid 90's were mostly unreliable. Akai was IMHO/E better at the same time. I can't remember us getting any of those back faulty, but Aiwa run for the hills. The amount of B grade and lower graded decks available was truly scary. They all got good write ups and the 007 and 009 were great but for similar doe the Akai GX machines or Naks is where I steered customers and myself. Nothing worse than having well regarded crap to sell.....and suffering the "You said it was good looks" when it went wrong. I didn't work that way personally (other staff didn't care). I wish you the best with your Aiwa for £74 you have scored yourself a bargain. My past experience of Aiwa put me off.



Regards D S D L