looking for 3-head nak deck ... is 680zx a good one?

June 1, 2014 - 6:06am

hcsunshine

Offline

Last seen: 6 years 7 months ago

Joined: Nov 13 2011 - 4:06pm

for recording from vinyl onto cassette, will it make much of a difference if I use the high bias maxell XL2 cassettes vs. the normal bias maxell UR cassettes? should I just stick with the UR tapes?

June 1, 2014 - 11:23am

#3

hcsunshine

Offline

Last seen: 6 years 7 months ago

Joined: Nov 13 2011 - 4:06pm

I'm not so sure I need a 3 head deck because: I have made recordings from my nak 2 head deck and they sound good to me (I primarily listen to these on low volume through headphones. yes, the sound falls apart a lil bit at higher volumes on my main system, but I'm not listening to it at these higher volumes. for my application, would recordings from a 3 head deck sound that much better than the recordings I have made from the 2 head deck?

June 1, 2014 - 11:03am

#4

commsysman

Offline

Last seen: 2 years 4 months ago

Joined: Apr 4 2006 - 11:33am

hcsunshine wrote:

I'm looking at nak 3 head decks on ebay. I see a lot of 680zx and some 660zx and a 682zx. which one of these 3 is more desirable? are these good choices among nak 3 head decks? if not, what would be the optimal nak 3 head deck for me? (I'm doing recording from vinyl onto cassette)

The Nakamichi 3-head decks give much better signal to noise ratio and frequency response than the 2-head decks. The transport guides and capstans are also much more durable and precise.

A 2-head deck uses the same head for recording and playback, and this is very poor. The record head needs to be a completely different design that is optimized for the record bias levels.

I think my Nak was a 581, but it has been a long time and I am not certain, except that it WAS a 3-head deck. It made excellent recordings!

By the way, I have around 20 brand new TDK Super Avilyn 90-minute tapes, still factory-sealed, which I will sell at a reasonable price. I always found those to be the best tapes.

June 1, 2014 - 11:13am

#5

commsysman

Offline

Last seen: 2 years 4 months ago

Joined: Apr 4 2006 - 11:33am

hcsunshine wrote:

I'm looking at nak 3 head decks on ebay. I see a lot of 680zx and some 660zx and a 682zx. which one of these 3 is more desirable? are these good choices among nak 3 head decks? if not, what would be the optimal nak 3 head deck for me? (I'm doing recording from vinyl onto cassette)

Actually, mine was a 481; an excellent machine!

June 8, 2014 - 12:12pm

#6

commsysman

Offline

Last seen: 2 years 4 months ago

Joined: Apr 4 2006 - 11:33am

The high-bias tapes, like the TDK SA (super avilyn), have noticeably lower noise and better frequency response. This is not just my opinion, but is well documented.

They are the only thing I would ever use when I was recording music.

Cheap tapes are OK for voice only, but not for music.

Search form