Understanding Nakamichi - May 2026

I have had the pleasure of meeting many talented people through our YouTube Channel.  When given their permission, I like to post their responses when they are expertly done from experience.  This gentleman did a superb job of understanding the complexity of Nakamichi cassette decks.  I will let his words stand without comment:

"Having used a lot of cassette decks, including Nakamichi, I definitely formed my own impressions of all of them.

My impression of Nakamichi decks is that there is no question that they sound great.....when they work.  It is well-known that the original capacitors in the decks become faulty after several years.  There's talk of the "orange cap disease".  The same transport is used by virtually all models.  There is a swinging rubber idler (toggles between hubs for REW, FF and PLAY modes) that needs replacement.  After-market mods replace the original capacitors with Nichicon capacitors while the rubber idler can be replaced with a longer-wearing gear.  The grease in the pinch roller hinges harden and seize over time as well.  Finally, the cam belt is a thin belt that also stretches over time and causes the pinch roller and head engagement to stall.  All but the last issue requires complicated and pricey maintenance and repair.

On paper, the decks are consistently among the best and old technical reviews (those with measurements) clearly show that you can record at much higher levels on metal tapes than on most other brands of decks but this doesn't necessarily mean you should.  This is because the headroom/distortion and signal-to-noise measurements are made in the midrange.  So if your source is loaded with highs and you set your recording levels until the peak level display shows "+10dB" (really about +8dB DIN - absolute value) your midrange will be clean BUT the highs may saturate and sound mushy even with metal tape.  A good part of the headroom should be reserved as a cushion or "fudge factor" to prevent peak levels from being squashed or compressed.

Then there's the little-known difference in playback EQ between Nakamichi and other brands.  It's been well-documented in professional research that during playback there is a slight loss of high treble due to the inability of all playback heads to reproduce extreme high frequencies perfectly.  Nakamichi, Revox and Tandberg as well as several models of Pioneer and Dual implemented a slight high-end EQ boost (reduced de-emphasis) during playback known as "head gap loss compensation".  Other high-end models from Teac, Sony and JVC, etc. compensated through recording EQ (pre-emphasis).  The rest of the decks made ignored the issue completely, particularly lower-end models, because these decks were not designed to reproduce the most extended high end.  This resulted in noticeably dull-sounding treble when playing Nakamichi recordings on most other brands.  Revox and Tandberg didn't implement as much head gap loss compensation so the issue wasn't as pronounced with their recordings.  Of course, playing other decks' recordings on a Nakamichi resulted in overly exaggerated treble.  Yet so many Nakamichi hardcore devotees were convinced that the difference was due to Nakamichi's "more efficient" or "vastly superior heads".  The company's heads were excellent but they weren't the reason for the treble discrepancy.  If there needs to be any convincing, a company named "Audible Images" (no relation to Audible Elegance) issued real-time pre-recorded cassettes back in '81 and its order forms requested that the buyer specify the brand of deck being used at home so that the company can record for either Nakamichi or "standard" playback EQ.

So my biggest reluctance for using my Nakamichi decks for building a cassette collection years ago was the maintenance and repair costs and the compatibility issue.  My Teac Z-6000 and Z-7000 decks have a more reliable transport and can make tapes that are often indistinguisable (or at least nearly so) from their sources.  Even my old $375 Technics RS-B905 that I purchased new in '89 and used heavily hasn't necessitated any repairs.  I do have the Sony WM-D6C and its quality is audibly almost as good as the Teac decks." - @f100cream

A Better Understanding of Small Businesses - April 2026

Over on our Audible Elegance Youtube channel, we received a really nice observation to a recent video I did on why we don't carry expensive phono cartridges in stock. This response applies to all specialty retailers and, perhaps, it will give you a better understanding of small businesses.  Sadly, even midsize specialty retailers are being challenged as can be noted by the closure of Dover Saddlery in Montgomery.  It was a fine horse tack and supply store but now they are gone.  I shopped there a couple of times while in Cincinnati visiting my store.

So, here's the response from one of my YouTube subscribers:

"I worked in a very large bicycle shop right in the heart of the University of Wisconsin campus on Regent St. We had a business model that was dictated by our location and our clientele. Needless to say, we didn't stock very expensive niche market bicycles either. That was just not our thing. Those esoteric bicycles also had a shelf life , next year's top model was on its way.

You have years of experience. You know what you can do and not for your core customers. Stocking esoteric items is a disservice for them as well. It costs a lot to stock these items ( that's probably not well understood) and once the product has expired ( so to speak for whatever reason) the owner has to bite the bullet. You need to stay in business in order to serve your customers well . Eating your profits through questionable inventory won't keep you in business. Let's just face it , the high-end cartridge market is too wide and variable that you cannot possibly provide a demonstration for everything. The manufacturer has far more data through the previous customer's feedback, not to mention their own internal testing and development."

• @stevengagnon4777

This was nicely put by the subscriber and explains why we need time to research the request while the buyer can also look to the world market for additional information. That said, we will do research into cartridge/arm/table combinations right along with the phono stage and knowing your system along with musical preferences is a real plus. Even hearing it in different shops is no guarantee as to the results in your system, nor are reviews completely accurate for the same reason.   

If We Could, We Would, But... Here's The Truth - March 2026

Now and again we are asked about pricing for not only ourselves but for other dealers.  Here is an example of a question:

Are you as a dealer willing to negotiate on price? Making that clear will keep your customers working with you vs going open box or used. Some dealers are opaque on pricing and sticker shock is real.

And now, my response:

That's a very broad question. Some products have, frankly, very little margin. Sometimes its about 10%. There's no place to go and the manufacturer actually expects us to make up the difference in consultation, installation, or other service fees. We have 4 product lines like that at our store for the moment.

Over 40 years, we have had work with customers who take an enormous amount of time and energy.  It bothers me that some believe that a product isn't worth the asking price which translates into our time is worth nothing. Rather hard to work for someone for free, don't you think?

The other aspect, in a broader form, is how many people that I talk to who lament that they no longer have a local dealer to help them or service their products.  I'd say there is about 5 left of the dealers I knew still in existence 40 years later, likely even less.  So, when I see mail order houses with young employees, sometimes with pictures of cute girls (like the old days where they would use models to sell cars), I can only wonder how much do they really know.  

As for sticker shock, you know, I have had that experience too particularly with what has happened over the last 4 years.  Between the massive inflation from 2021 to 2024 coupled with significantly higher labor costs and speculation on raw materials, yeah, the shock is real.  Very disconcerting but, they didn't choose it either. Sometimes national policies can have a significant impact on prices and, contrary to popular belief, we are not making more but rather less. These high labor costs, quite frankly, are the tinder needed to sell AI systems to eliminate those labor costs.  But, I digress.

The mail order /open box world has also forced us to limit our service support to those products which we have actually sold, with a few exceptions.  Why?  Because manufacturers do not pay us to fix their products under warranty and, often times, we have to pay for both the freight cost of getting the repair part AND returning the defective one.  Knowledgeable people doing service are not cheap. 

Frankly, what I have seen over the years is the more wealth the potential customer has the more demanding they are of special treatment.  I've had a few that would call or text my employees at 5 in the morning demanding that they come to their house to, essentially, turn the TV set back on.  I personally had one threaten to sue me because his TV stopped working only to find out that his gardener rototilled his cable feed.  Once fixed, he tested the system by going to his porn channel. Oh, he threatened my service manager with extensive profanity to the point that within a week he quit.  That really helped us. 

So, for me to say I'm Crazy Eddie offering crazy deals (he' out of business too) is not something that is really possible.  I am disinclined to join in the race to 0.  You get your choice of Price, Quality, and Service.  But, you only get to choose 2 of the three.  Anyone offering all three is typically on their way out the door. I have chosen quality and service.  From that point forward, pricing is very dependent upon what we are looking at and a whole bunch of factors. I do not blame some dealers for being vague as the nature of the question really ignores many realities by the one posing the question. 

When we can, we offer specials and promotions. If you look at our website right now, you will see them and they vary from time to time.  That's pretty much it. 

Sorry for the long answer but I wanted to help you to see how the question is, in itself, incomplete to someone who has been in the trade all these years.