For nostalgia reasons and because I have lots of quality tapes, I am tempted to purchase a used Nak Dragon. The deck is in mint condition but is 10 years old so will got to service to bring it up to snuff. Can some of you share what and average service and calibration will cost at Willy Herman?
RE: Cost of Nakamichi Service , posted on October 31, 2016 at 11:58:38
Posts: 8115 Location: So. California Joined: July 23, 2004 Contributor Since: November 29, 2004
he is a straight shooter. just ask him directly, call first to be sure he's still doing them. My 682ZX cost around $500 plus for rebuild. works well, rarely used.
Posts: 420 Location: Houston, Texas Joined: March 3, 2002
They were made from 1982 - 1993 so it's closer to 30 years old, but that's not a problem. Willy can fix just about anything and stands behind his work. He is still in business because I just got one repaired late last summer. Keep in mind before you buy that he doesn't work on very early serial numbered units, so ask him about that. I have two and find it easier and more fun to save favorite music to quality cassette than to any digital medium.
RE: Cost of Nakamichi Service , posted on November 11, 2016 at 09:31:46
Posts: 3433 Location: no. california Joined: October 25, 2002 Contributor Since: April 3, 2008
I'm lucky enough to live not far from Willy, so when I purchased a Nak ZX-7 I brought it over to his house for a complete restoration. I can't find the invoice at the moment, but I'm thinking that it cost me in the range of a few hundred dollars for him to completely and perfectly restore it to it's original glory(or better). This was a few years ago, and it has worked beautifully since then. This is a passion of Willy's, and as others have indicated he's a great guy who will give you answers and no bs. A beautiful machine like a Dragon deserves the best restorative treatment, and Willy is the guy that can do it.
The Nakamichi Dragon is......, posted on December 16, 2016 at 07:39:39
a very fussy deck. I had one that would not bias the tapes correctly. I sent it to Nakamichi in L.A. They said it was repaired and that it was the drive system. After $600 later, the darn Deck still didn't work correctly. I then sold it and bought a Luxman K03 deck. The Luxman is the Best Cassette deck I ever owned. Beat the Dragon by far and the tapes it made would play nicely in any other deck. Very easy to get the tapes I made to sound like an exact copy, even with the cheapest low noise tape.