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Audiophile Equipment

I learned the value of audiophile equipment early in my pursuit of the high end. I had accumulated enough gear for a system and was looking for the best possible tape deck… with Dolby C. From the popular magazines… Stereo Review, Stereo Times… the Harman Kardon T392 seemed to represent the pinnacle. So I bought one. It was OK… but such a huge step down from vinyl that I was genuinely bummed, especially since it cost something like $650… a lot of money at the time.

A few months later I was browsing a high-end audio shop and, somewhat morosely, told my story to a salesman. He just started laughing. “Those things are junk… you need a real tape deck.” He led me over to the window, where there was a seven-year-old used Nakamichi 1000… huge, with wood paneling all around it… looking more like a reel-to-reel than a cassette deck. He wanted $1,200 for it. That was an astronomical amount of money… and it was old. Then he said, “Take it home… try it.”

My first real jaw-drop moment.

It had the full depth and bass of vinyl… it was simply astonishing. It made the so-called “flagship” Harman Kardon sound like a cheap plastic transistor radio and without Dolby C.  All that glossy magazine talk about bandwidth and specs… page after page of marketing… well, that’s all it was. This old, purpose-built audiophile machine performed leagues above the consumer-level product.

I was hooked.

It wasn’t my last audiophile purchase… but it was my last consumer-level purchase for decades.

ghdprentice
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
13,691 posts
 

Great thread… we are definitely showing our sonic youth sides as they evolved during the golden era of audio… 

Tandberg 440 moment at Hoffmans in Cleveland - might also have been the Threshold 400 below it…  I should have kept it… but I worked at shops selling Tandberg, Revox and Denon. In Columbus w a competitor selling NAK we had plenty of opportunities to get a fair and measured evaluation… I still have a NAK today - it’s taking up space on a couch ( temporarily ) as the Revox has gone to a new home in Colorado - some bits a kit need to brighten other audio lives and journeys - no ?

The LX-3 is just for replaying the various mix tapes I made while courting my now wife - Little Feat as it were….

on the subject of ADS , we stocked the mighty 2030 and memory is foggy but believe we sold at least 3pair… we had them vertically bi-amped. Peter Gabriel - Security was a religious experience…..

continue to carry the flame Raul

arizonabob's avatar
arizonabob
116 posts
 

A cassette player was the last thing added to my first "audiophile" system. There were music players that came before, but first component set up from 1971 included a Sansui 350A, a Pioneer PL A25 with Shure (think it was an  M91E) cartridge, and a pair of horrible sounding ADS three-way speakers that  were soon to be replaced by a pair of Bose 501's. The cassette was a mid to lower end Sony model.  I would spend hour upon hour creating mix tapes for me and some friends, fading in and out from every song, only using the better TDK (MA?) 90 min. tapes. All source material was culled from my "formidable'" 300 LP collection. This was after suffering through trying that with 4 track as well as 8 track tapes. My system has improved numerus times thru the years  Now it exists of McIntosh electronics, JBL speakers along with vintage direct drive Denon turntables. I still prevail upon my 5000+ LP collection for material. However, tape is no longer facilitated . My road tunes are all now recorded on compact discs...

uncleang
149 posts
 

Nakamichi is perhaps the legacy brand I miss the most. 

That's why I've spent quite a bit refurbishing my

Nakamichi PA-7A MKII amp

& CA-7A  pre-amp.

kennyc
2,854 posts
 

@ghdprentice what was your SS system before transitioning to tube AR?

douglas_schroeder
3,333 posts
 

Yup, NAK, don't need to say anything more regarding cassette decks. 

When I was looking at cassette decks many years ago, I had a similar experience. 
A salesman summarized the complaints that were floated by other dealers, "Everyone rips on Nakamichi because they are the best." I bought the only model I could afford at the time, one of my first audiophile quality components, the CR-1A. 

It had sat for years as a token of the past, but recently I decided to set it up in my office with the Peachtree Audio Nova, the Eminent Technology LFT-IV Speakers and a pair of HSU subwoofers as a nice vintage system to play my mix tapes I kept. Its sound will not win any awards; when compared to recent gear, imo cassette is lacking. I put the Nak into my big rig and played tapes for two days - nah, not that good. I do wonder what it would sound like to make tapes with a streaming music source. But I'm not going to spend my life on it. 

But it's fun to return to decades old music on the old Nak! 

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