Nakamichi BX-1 Review pdf
A DECADE HAS GONE BY since Nakarnichi-which had been building cassette equipment for other companies-offcrcd thc first deck under its own name. And what a dcck it was: At $1,000. the I000 cost more than twice as much as any other deck on the tnarket ($350 was the going rate for a top niodel) and incorporated a degree of technical sophistication undreamed of by home recordists. Over the intervening ycars, the top Nakamichis have become even more sophisticated (and expensive), and some much more affordable models have appeared. Our present subject, thc BX-I, is Nakamichi’s least expensive deck ever (by a small margin) and its best value ever (by a large one).
Imagine that Rolls-Royce, having offered the Bentley as an alternative to Jaguars and Mercedes, were suddenly to introduce a smaller car combining much of the elegance in engineering, performance, and visible detailing of the larger models with a price comparable to that of, say, a VW Sirocco. An exceedingly fine touch would be necessary to pull off such a feat, since it would require paring away every expendable element without compromising the essentials. The analogy may not be exact, but it at least suggests how formidable a task Nakamichi has undertaken.
Inevitably, we begin by looking at what has been left out. The omission we most regret is Dolby C, which would banish the slight residual hiss left by Dolby B. That would yield the most audible improvement we can think of over what the BX-I actually provides. If you want Dolby C, along with a number of features that are nice to have (but are not, in our opinion, of equal impor- tance), Nakamichi gives you the option of spending about $150 more on the BX-2.
For many users. however-especially those who don’t do live recording, who listen primarily to prerecorded tapes, or who want to play their tapes on other dccks (especially portable or car units)-the “stripped-down” Ilolhy B model will provide all thc neccssitic\ and then some. Other tcatures that must be passed up are fine-tuning adjustments for matching the deck to a variety of tapes (included on most Nakamichi decks and important to thc serious recordiht. but oftcrl confusing to the neophyte). all random-access indexing functions, a separate playback (monitoring) head, microphone inputs, and two features that are included in the BX-2: recording mute and an output level control.
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