Just a little update on my haul and I didn't even start yet cleaning up.
I have to give a very public thank you to Walter.
That NAK MR-1 arrived on Saturday. It just cost me $23.23 for shipping.
That Pro MR-1 professional cassette deck is the most sort after of all the NAK cassette machines.
Here it is installed in my system.
This is a very sophisticated machine. It is dual capstan three head, with motors for the reel hubs as well.
There is a mechanism to pull the pressure pad of the cassette away from the tape in play. Tape pressure is maintained against the heads, by tension developed between the two capstans. So this makes it like the best reel to reel machines.
The upper end NAks have a complex system to automatically adjust the azimuth alignment of the heads. This is unique to NAKs. It monitors the tape and there is a precise servo motor the aligns the heads to the tape being played. So if a tape was made on a machine with less than perfect azimuth alignment it will auto correct for it and maximize the HF response.
I cleaned the machine up today, demagnetized and cleaned the heads and tape path.
I have not tweaked the internal adjustments such as bias and EQ, as I'm waiting for a CD of the service manual I purchased on eBay.
This is a really nice gift, as with the aging vintage equipment it is a good idea to have a back up, since this is an archiving studio.
I have been inside my TEAC Z6000 master cassette deck several times of late.
I was just going to store this unit as a back up. However I thought the best place to store it was in the system as a functional unit.
The TEAC Z 6000 is also a very nice machine. It has a built in frequency generator and front panel screw driver adjustment of bias and Eq. So you can set it perfectly for any tape you want to use without putting it on the bench.
So I now have two of the finest cassette recorders ever built.
The most expensive deck NAK made was the dragon, which takes out the cassette and turns it round, to avoid the azimuth error and tape skew of reversing decks. However their higher end consumer decks were not among the most reliable. The MR-1 was their top of the line pro deck and built to a very high standard and hence remains sought after.
So how do the decks sound? Very similar. On good tapes I think the TEAC may have a slight edge, hard to tell. However on tapes not recorded by others with suspect machines, the NAk MR-1 wins hands down. The auto azimuth alignment really does work.
Walter is going to ship me these six Shure SR 105 mono blocks!
He is also sending me these Altec 511B horns.
These will go to a community project at the 3rd Base Bar and Grill at Laporte.
I have two 15" Altec 411-8A bass drivers. I also have quite a few Shure SR 106 electronic crossover.
Currently the compression drivers are EV Golden Throat mid range drivers. So that system in the hotel must have been tri-amped! That explains why there are six Shure SR 105 mono blocks.
We will build cabinets for which there are already volunteers lining up.
We will need to purchase the correct HF compression drivers for the Altec 511B horns. They are still available new from Great Plains Audio for $200 each.
We will use four of the Shure SR 105s to bi-amp them via a pair of Shure SR 106 crossovers. I also have a seventies TAPCO mixer six channel.
So this will make a nice retro disco. It will produce that much sought after "West Coast" sound.
3rd Base is in quite large grounds were community events are often held.
The SR 105s have 70 volt line transformers so I will use one to power an outside PA system
This should be a fun project. I will keep you all posted.
Once again many thanks to Walter!
