What was the last cassette tape you bought?

Drikus posted:

Food for thought Richard. Did get a copy of the service invoice after all late last night. This is it;

Roughly translated this has been done: device disassembled and reassembled / belt replaced / mechanics softened and re-greased / tapedeck cleaned (tape-guiding parts, capstan, sound and ? heads) / device tested and probed. Nothing on the invoice about capacitors been replaced. Not a "full service" like what's been done to yours it seems, just a belt replacement and the mechanism cleaned. Better to get a unserviced Dragon and send it to Bowers & Wilkins I think. Does it really take a few months to get a deck serviced there?

Moderated Post:  Drikus, to spare Herr D having his address details on the net, I've removed the picture.  Best to cover up such things to be safe.

No problem Richard, glad you did. Just wanted to show you what the invoice said about the work done.

Richard Dane posted:

Paul Wilkins is, I think, the only one who works on the decks and with the renewed interest in cassette, he's in great demand. It's worth contacting Bowers as soon as possible to find out timings and to get your deck booked in.  A wait is a good sign here...

Haven't got a Nak deck yet as you know but I found a non serviced Dragon this morning for just £790. Mailed the seller that I want to buy it. As you can see in the pics, it seems in good optical condition back and front.

I'll contact Bowers & Wilkins as soon as I got hold of it. Will get my Sony deck serviced so I can use that in the meantime while the Dragon gets serviced.

Drikus,

Thats sounds like a very good price on the Dragon.Like Richard I have used B@W 5 years ago for a service on my CR 7E.It came back sounding superb - new belts etc.Great company to deal with.It was away 6 weeks and cost £300.

When will your Dragon be arriving ?

What a deal!

Drikus, I'm going to move this over to the hifi corner, as that's the way this thread has moved.

Tabby cat posted:

Drikus,

Thats sounds like a very good price on the Dragon.Like Richard I have used B@W 5 years ago for a service on my CR 7E.It came back sounding superb - new belts etc.Great company to deal with.It was away 6 weeks and cost £300.

When will your Dragon be arriving ?

Lol Ian, give the man/woman a break, I just mailed him/her this morning , haven't got a reply yet. Some people have to work during the day you know .

Richard Dane posted:

What a deal!

Drikus, I'm going to move this over to the hifi corner, as that's the way this thread has moved.

Ok but this is just an interplay between buying cassettes .

Drikus posted:

Just curious about the socket that looks like it says DC output. Is this for powering Mic Preamps or for another purpose ?

Richard, did they replace the fixed power cord with a new one on your ZX-9?

I don't think so.  I doubt there was any need as it was in very good condition and still the original length (i.e. not cut down).

James, the other DIN is for one of the Nakamichi "Black Box" units, most usually (and as you rightly guessed) the MX-100 Microphone mixer.

By the way, one nice little tip for anyone looking for a remote control for their Nakamichi;  My favourite remote is the one that I use with my old 700, the original Tri-Tracer remote control. It looks great and it has nice big buttons. The good news is that these also operate later Naks too - it works fine with both my BX-300E as well as my ZX-9 and many others (not the 4xx series which need the RM-100, or auto-reverse models though) - and they're easier to find and usually a bit cheaper than the RM-200.  For a Dragon you need the RM-20.

Found an RM-20 for £175, is that a good price? What's the cable length by the way?

Cheers Richard.

Drikus posted:

Found an RM-20 for £175, is that a good price? What's the cable length by the way?

I can't measure easily without talking stuff apart, but the mains lead is fairly long IIRC.

No, I mean what's the cable length of the RM-20.

How exactly does the service by Bowers & Wilkins work, they have a look at it and give you an estimate or is there a fixed price for each model?

Ah, Ok, I don't know for sure but it may be printed up in one of the old brochures.

IIRC B&W give you an estimate for standard service which covers most essential things and then anything extra on top if they know before hand.

Hi [@mention:73370968263941422]

I had my Dragon done by Paul at B&W and it cost about £540, with new belts, caps, a cleanup of the mechanism, etc. Came back sounding sweeter than ever. Worth every penny!

I hope you get the Dragon you were after - £790 is an absolute steal!

I found a Dragon on that well know auction site. Current bid is just £350 with two days left. It's not in mint condition optically, plenty of scratches everywhere. Do you think it's worth placing a bid? Here it is;

I presume the scratches etc are just cosmetic @drikus? If I were in the market for a Dragon I would definitely put in a bid at that price. The prices for upscale Naks - CR7, Dragon, 1000ZXL, ZX9, 700ZXL - are completely insane these days.

My bid is the highest at the moment with £445. 1 day and 18 hrs to go.

Went crazy in the last five minutes. Kept cool and raised my maximum bid in the last two seconds and won the auction! Final price: £1200,  already paid. Got a budget of £1750 so with the B&W service included that will be around that figure somewhere I expect.

Great result Drikus - Well pleased for you and with the service it will certainly hold its value. As Kevin says top Naks are going threw the roof on the 2nd hand market so a wise investment.The Dragon will be perfect for your library of pre recorded tapes and you will be able to play them without changing sides.

Here's a nice video for you of 2 Nak legends......Good listening.......Welcome to the Nak Club 

Thx mate. Nice reminder, forgot about the auto reverse thing. Mailed B&W already for some more info about the service. The French seller will be shipping it first thing on wednesday because he's not at home until tuesday evening. It's a long weekend overhere and in France. Tuesday is a holliday, nobody works and most people don't work tomorrow, monday, either. When I say most people, I don't mean me, I've got to work tomorrow and tuesday  But I'm payed double these days so thats softening the blow a bit . So the Dragon should be arriving at the end of this week or early next week. 

Very nice Drikus, and an excellent choice for replaying your pre-recorded cassette purchases.  Please keep us updated on how it goes.

Moment of joy didn't last long. Heard back from Paul Wilkins. The have a new policy and I quote "Unfortunately we are unable to service Dragon decks from outside the UK now. We have very few parts and lots of Dragons are coming back from our own country so we have had to start this policy."  I have trouble understanding this new policy. He's willing to let a classic deck like this go to waste without a second thought just because I’m not from the UK? Well, there's no other word for it, I'm ****ed. Only thing I can do now is sell it on I guess. Luckily for me they are in high demand. I'm back from where I started, nowhere...

Drikus posted:

Moment of joy didn't last long. Heard back from Paul Wilkins. The have a new policy and I quote "Unfortunately we are unable to service Dragon decks from outside the UK now. We have very few parts and lots of Dragons are coming back from our own country so we have had to start this policy."  I have trouble understanding this new policy. He's willing to let a classic deck like this go to waste without a second thought just because I’m not from the UK? Well, there's no other word for it, I'm ****ed. Only thing I can do now is sell it on I guess. Luckily for me they are in high demand. I'm back from where I started, nowhere...

Alternatively get a mate in the UK to submit it for service.....

Willy posted:

Drikus posted:

Moment of joy didn't last long. Heard back from Paul Wilkins. The have a new policy and I quote "Unfortunately we are unable to service Dragon decks from outside the UK now. We have very few parts and lots of Dragons are coming back from our own country so we have had to start this policy."  I have trouble understanding this new policy. He's willing to let a classic deck like this go to waste without a second thought just because I’m not from the UK? Well, there's no other word for it, I'm ****ed. Only thing I can do now is sell it on I guess. Luckily for me they are in high demand. I'm back from where I started, nowhere...

Alternatively get a mate in the UK to submit it for service.....

That's Brexit for you.