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Post by dsjr on May 7, 2020 18:09:42 GMT
Must be my lucky week this week, another batch of ten 1980's TDK 'AD90' cropped up, I always buy up batches of these when they turn up, but it can be weeks on end some times.. By the mid 80's I was hooked on 'metal' tapes, as it took a lot to get the signal onto the tape and a hell of a lot to get rid of it.
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Post by dsjr on May 7, 2020 18:11:09 GMT
'700ZXE' is my fav. I do have a soft spot for the pain in the arse '700II' but up against a Tandberg 'TCD-3014'/'3004' Nak's they are like toys IMHO, But we can only dream I had a 700ZXE. Full of daughter boards and not very reliable. Good looker though i had an original 700 too, but the playback eq was outdated and it only sounded great on tapes made on it.
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Post by dsjr on May 7, 2020 18:15:41 GMT
When I worked in a hifi shop, one of our customers (my fave customer actually: came in the shop every single day) part exes his Dragon to fund a major upgrade. He bought a CR7 a few months later and said it wasn’t a patch on the Dragon. This was not what the what the mags of the day were saying but that guy knew his stuff. Incidentally most UK dealers used to ship their Nakamichis up to Bernard Maugham up my end of the country, I think he’s finally retired recently. The website still shows them being at the old coach house I’ve visited a few times but my mate who knows Bernie wel told me they had moved. www.maughanamps.com/about.shtmlI also owned a Dragon for a short time (long story). The early ones as mine was had shit-slow meters that wouldn't respond to peaks and th emech was fussy on the tapes one played on it. My recently deceased pal who bought many of my own Naks for his museum (they'll probably come up for sale in the not too distant future) bought one several years later and the meters seemed to have been sorted and the mechanism was more stable. I gather that Dolby S machines used the Dragon playback eq as the reference (I think Nak became the standard after bucking it in the 70's)...
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2020 18:41:10 GMT
Must be my lucky week this week, another batch of ten 1980's TDK 'AD90' cropped up, I always buy up batches of these when they turn up, but it can be weeks on end some times.. By the mid 80's I was hooked on 'metal' tapes, as it took a lot to get the signal onto the tape and a hell of a lot to get rid of it. I know you can get an higher Frequency response from Metals, but i just never liked them. I used 'SA-X' if i used a Cassette for best.. These days i put my Excellent quality live recordings on 'AD' Any standard music that was not available on record, go on 'SA'.. If music was available on LP it will be on LP. Been at this game a long time now & gone around in circles with Hi-Fi. on Hindsight, which is a wonderful thing. I got it right from day one but lost the plot shortly afterwards. Recognising the error of you ways is a very hard thing to do.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2020 22:58:39 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2020 23:11:54 GMT
Good price. Look a bit damaged down the bottom.
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Post by Westie on May 7, 2020 23:28:32 GMT
Yeah, take out the bass units, bin the rest of the speaker lol. Miserable shitty little things, Minstrels. Absolutely the worst speaker Joe Ackroyd ever made. Putting an undoped driver in there certainly helps but it really is lipstick on a pig. The undoped Royd bass unit is a fave of mine, but drowning it in snot and putting it in an “Oompa Loompa” cabinet, especially a ported one is just plain wrong. Most low-mid price floorstanders sit too low, I feel. Part of the reason for more expensive systems sounding better to my ears is that the speaker drivers tend to sit higher. It gives a more realistic image height and stops the sound getting bogged down in the room. A pair of Royd Sapphires or Edens on tall stands will utterly bury Minstrels and look much nicer too IMO.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2020 23:31:08 GMT
Only ever had one pair of Royds 'Coniston R'
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Post by Westie on May 8, 2020 0:03:00 GMT
By the mid 80's I was hooked on 'metal' tapes, as it took a lot to get the signal onto the tape and a hell of a lot to get rid of it. I know you can get an higher Frequency response from Metals, but i just never liked them. I used 'SA-X' if i used a Cassette for best.. These days i put my Excellent quality live recordings on 'AD' Any standard music that was not available on record, go on 'SA'.. If music was available on LP it will be on LP. Been at this game a long time now & gone around in circles with Hi-Fi. on Hindsight, which is a wonderful thing. I got it right from day one but lost the plot shortly afterwards. Recognising the error of you ways is a very hard thing to do. I liked SA-X too. I thought they sounded great and liked the packaging too. I think my tape deck was a Aiwa AD-F990 but will,have to have a look at pics to be sure. I had a very good JVC and a Sony too but the numbers escape me and I can’t remmebet the looks that well.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2020 0:04:47 GMT
That Aiwa won awards back in the day. They fetch a lot these days..
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Post by Westie on May 8, 2020 0:05:29 GMT
Yep, it was a 990. No idea if they are comparatively good or bad. I really did like using it though. It was a lovely thing, I also had a clunky NAD which was good sounding and pleasing in a Soviet-style way.
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Post by Westie on May 8, 2020 0:13:10 GMT
That Aiwa won awards back in the day. They fetch a lot these days.. I don’t even remember what happened to it, or the other tape decks either. There was a decent mark up on Aiwas so I got it for a lot less than retail. All I remember was that buttons and the FFWD/rewind were very slick. I enjoyed playing with it more than using it. Basically a toy for a young guy who didn’t know enough to appreciate it at the time.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2020 2:13:47 GMT
Which NAD was that?
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2020 2:15:42 GMT
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Post by Westie on May 8, 2020 8:11:33 GMT
And I probably gave mine away or left it somewhere. Doh!
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