Price Paid:  $1000.00 from audiophile friend

Summary:
I have used my Nakamichi RX 505 for years, with a lot of pleasure :) I bought it from a friend in 1998. It´s still in very good condition, only the speed of the cassette is not constant. But you can fix it easaly...I´m not using it anymore, so if you are interested...it´s for sale. If you are interested, please send me an email: audioreview@derix.net

Strengths:
very good condition
very cool cassette flip

Weaknesses:
small speed problem

Price Paid:  $300.00 from Friend

Summary:
A breathtaking great machine, that can only beat my ZX9 and other great decks I have listed here, thanks to its refined circuits. Same circuits used in Dragon because of the exact years they both produced. Smooth passages which can only felt in analog's warmth are highly felt on the tapes recorded by this machine.Mechanically (UDAR) also very well designed; leaving not much worry to the user to end-up recording just by one hit.Deserves, like ZX9, a five star rating.

Strengths:
The ultimate high end analog reproduction, better resulting than the source by its tuned-up equalization circuits.

Weaknesses:
No remote? If available int he market, NONE.

Similar Products Used:
NakZX9,RevoxB215,H1,H11,Yamaha1020/1200, Teac8030,NAD6300,SonyES

Price Paid:  $500.00 from Sound Advice

Summary:
Still the best auto-reverse cassette deck ever produced, and certainly a giant in its own right. Owners out there, please do not compare inferior decks such as Tascam, Harman Kardon CD491, and the like to this engineering tour-de-force. Also, please do not mention Nakamichi not incuding Dolby S, HX Pro, and DBX in the RX-505. The RX-505, along with all other Nakamichi decks, does not need the help of these tachnologies to achieve it's objective of superior freqency repsonse. Those Noise reduction chips are reserved for inferior decks with inferior head design! I agree with the person who said that the RX-505 should have a place in the Smithsonian as an engineering work of art. The RX-505 makes you really appreciate the warm, smooth, voluptuous sound we have to come to expect from analogue sources, unlike the harshness and grunge you get from digital mediums such as the CD format. You can see the RX-505 in action in the 1986 classic movie "9 1/2 Weeks" with Mickey O'Rourke and Kim Basinger. I too, will never mine. Long live the RX-505!

Strengths:
Superior head design! Superior engineering! Superior build quality! Superior recording and playback! You get the picture!

Weaknesses:
None whatsoever!

Similar Products Used:
Nakamichi Dragon, CR-7A, RX-202, Harman Kardon CD491

Price Paid:  $150.00 from ebay

Summary:
This is the most amazing tape deck i have ever owned. i do wish it had built in DBX but a 228 processor works fine with the 505. it has a lot of features i am still trying to figure out, like i did not know that when you have an LP playing and it finishes the tape deck stops by its self after a few minuites of silence. this is new to me! but its great. sometimes the deck still wants to autoreverse toward the end af a tape instead of at the end . all ans all it was well worth 150 because i see them going for a lot more.

Strengths:
everything except no DBX of i guess dolby s would be good to have

Weaknesses:
big big big and heavy

Similar Products Used:
yamaha k1000 DBX deck

Price Paid:  $0.00 from The home of a dear a

Summary:
I've owned many naks and i practically had to hock my first born to get this one. I also own a ZX7, which i'm very fond of. Playback of tapes made on this machine from albums in my wife's van,(Infinity Premium sound system)just takes me into another dimension. I've had many Naks but, this one makes my blood run cold. I often wonder how much better do they get? Strong as a Sherman tank yet gentle as feather with tape, the RX505 takes no prisoners, period, gets 5 stars from me.

Strengths:
The ultimate in analog reproduction, really lets you know how good your source is, the better the source, the better the recording. It holds back nothing sonically.

Weaknesses:
If there are any, i haven't found them yet.