Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Crap transport makes it junk. It sounds great, but the idler wheel design is just crap. Don't waste your time with this series of deck. They suck.

Price Paid:  $150.00 from private sale

Summary:
I admit to being a bit of a tape nut, however I lack the budget to be able to go overboard on this medium. i.e Dragon and so on. However, I purchased a BX-125 about 8 years ago and it worked just fine. It possessed a deliciously smooth and refined sound quite unlike any other two head tape deck that I had ever heard. I subsequently purchased for the recording convenience a 3 head Sony 650ES. This was a great deck but not as reliable and, I must admit that my Nak had the edge in detail. My latest purchase is a 1980 model Nak 480. It was going for milk money with a few transport problems due to old age. But $50 later and it is as good as new, and my fate is sealed I will nver by another tape deck again, superb!

Strengths:
Build quality,sound quality.

Weaknesses:
They require regular tuning to sound their best.

Similar Products Used:
Sony 650ES 3 head deck

Price Paid:  $250.00 from Audio Shop

Summary:
I brought a BX-125 (cheap version of the BX-150, same functionality) ages ago (must be 1983 or so).
Brand New: second hand, the former user had decided after ample use to buy another brand. I used it next to my first Nak 550 and used more than 5 hours a day almost every day until 1993 as I brought a CR7.
Great Deck. Has been serviced once (Idler Modification) and worked well since. Allthough the sound seems not as smooth as the 3-head Naks, it is still much better than all the other Casssette-Decks I own (and owned).

Strengths:
Sound,Quality Build,

Weaknesses:
Ackward Use (compared to Non-Naks). Needs Idler modification to last.

Similar Products Used:
NAK:550,480,BX-1,CR4a,CR7a,202,670,
Revox 215,Technics M-5,Sony 6SE,Teac's

Price Paid:  $500.00 from All purchased at Audio West (now gone-but not forgotten)

Summary:
I bought this deck back in '84 when I was 17. Prior to this deck, I had purchased a TEAC V500x and I remember thinking the world had stopped. Joy turned to discust as each of the 4 TEAC decks I had to exchange kept having problems. One had a warped cabinet but sounded fine. Another had bad flutter and the problems seemed endless.
I decided to pay the difference and buy a Nak BX-150. When I first got it, the quality was obvious both in sound and build. Even with Dolby C it sounded good which I didn't think would happen since I loved the silken silence that dbx offered me on the TEAC. I had the deck for about 2 weeks when it started creasing tapes along the length of the tape. I took it back to the dealer (which was a superb Mom and Pop type dealer where I bought all of my stuff including my first VCR) and they gladly sent it off to Nak at their repair facility in California. The entire transport was replaced 2 times before the problem was corrected. Since I was pretty young and the money I spent on this thing was a lot to me then, I was pissed. When it finally got corrected, the deck served me faithfully for many years up until 1993 when it developed some kind of power supply problem and just before that, the aforementioned in other postings idler problem. I decided that repairing it would probably be expensive beyond reason. I decided to just buy a new deck instead. I decided on the Aiwa ADF-750 which was more flexible than the Nak. It had adjustable bias, 3 heads, remote control and HX pro (which seems useless on something as pitiful as cassettes). Sure it was nice and had okay sound, but it couldn't match that Nak for overall smooth, accurate, clean sound.

I use the Aiwa with an external dbx unit which helps, but I really wish my Nak was working so I could try it with dbx.

I still have the Nak sitting on a shelf. Maybe someday, I'll get it repaired just for the hell of it assuming Nakamichi still offers parts for it.

Strengths:
Great sound for a cassette deck. Ease of access to tape path for cleaning via removeable door lid.

Weaknesses:
Transport problems after first purchasing it.

Similar Products Used:
TEAC V-500x with DBX NR and Aiwa ADF-750 3 head with external dbx type II NR unit

Summary:
I've also run into the idler wheel problem, and the posts here suggest that it's perhaps not such an isolated problem. After the idler crapped out for the third time in 10 years, I gave up and retired the deck. Too bad, because otherwise this is a very good tape deck, with excellent sound reproduction. Loss of rating point due to poor build quality of the transport mechanism

Strengths:
Great sound

Weaknesses:
Idler wheel

Similar Products Used:
Sony