Nakamichi BX-125

[Music Freak]

Hi all,

Let me start with a bit of background. I stumbled upon this forum slightly over an year ago while I was browsing for information regarding the cassette decks.

Through few helpful forum members, I got much needed info about the top brands like Nakamichi, Technics, Akai.. I wished to purchase a Nak then, however, due to my impatience & of course, budget, bought a Sony deck. I am happy with it & is serving me very well.

I recently noticed an Ad on Olx regarding the sale of a used Nakamichi BX-125. I was impressed with it's condition, description & the info provided by the seller when I contacted through phone. I got to know that the deck was underused. Since the seller is in a different state, I ordered without listening to it & took a chance.

I received it yesterday; is indeed in a stunning cosmetic condition. I was elated to experience the music from my first Nak! However, it was short-lived.

Issues:

- Low & inconsistent output. When I played a couple of cassettes, I really felt my Sony deck is unbeatable! It outputs better sound than Nak even with "O/P" knob set to max on the Nak. In fact, the knob set in max "O/P" outputs the same sound as when set in the mid position.

- The counter "reset" button is not functioning; it's a tiny on/off button which should respond when pressed lightly, but doesn't. This is not much of a concern. But, good to get it fixed.

As a first troubleshooting step, I cleaned the head, capstan & roller with IPA manufactured by Apollo pharmacy, last night. I will test it soon.

Please help me with the following questions.

-- Will the O/P improve if I use it frequently? or As the deck is underused, would you recommend a full service now? If yes, please let me know any good technician(s) in Bangalore. I will try to get in touch with them this weekend.

-- Do I need to purchase a new reset button or just the existing one can be repaired?

Thanks!

 

[Selvin]

Hi..

Hope you bought the deck from Vizag. The BX-125 is a decent Nakamichi deck and definitely sing well. In your case it may be sounding bad due to following reason(S).
1. Dirt or worn out or misaligned head.
2. Bad belt and or bad pinch roller.
3. Last may be some bad component like leakage capacitor.

Inspect all these with a qualified technician and definitely it will make happy you.

If you need a professional service and calibration you may contact FM NakTech (Umesh) Chennai.

 

[Music Freak]

Thank you, Selvin. You are right, got it from Vizag. I wish the FM you have mentioned resides in Bangalore

I shall await the response(s) from others which can direct me to a reliable technician in Bangalore.

 

[Music Freak]

As a first troubleshooting step, I cleaned the head, capstan & roller with IPA manufactured by Apollo pharmacy, last night. I will test it soon.

This has certainly improved the sound quality Breathed a sigh of relief!!

 

[Technics_Fan]

Glad to know that your sound quality has improved...

After scoring a nice pre owned tape deck the first thing on your to do list is to clean the tape path meticulously...

99% pure IPA is good for started...ensure that you clean the tape guides, erase heads , r/p heads and capstan thoroughly ....
This may take a while and few iterations //do it until you cotton swab comes out clean

At this juncture you can examine the heads and see if there still some tape oxide / tape binder resin build in the head...if there is still some left, then you need re do the exercise with acetone...Ensure that you don't get acetone into plastic or rubber parts...This should considerably improve you playback quality...


Secondly it is advisable to demagnetize your head...if you don't have one you can put your deck in record mode and let it run for a while ...this effective will degauss you r/p head..ofcourse this will work only for a 2 head deck...

 

[Music Freak]

Hi!

Long time; nice to see your response. Thanks

Yes, it definitely needs some service. My Sony deck still sounds best compared to Nak. I will follow your tips soon and also try to get a professional to take a look.

 

[Technics_Fan]

Yes...once your nak is up to spec it will outperform the Sony.... The key is to get your nak to spec...if it still sounds dull / too soft then most probably it is your r/p azimuth...since it is a simple two head single capstan deck you can manually adjust the azimuth with a non magnetic screwdriver to get the best highs...of course this method will be close enough but never perfect....to do it properly you would need a 15khz reference tape ..

 

[jmascreen]

Hi!

Long time; nice to see your response. Thanks

Yes, it definitely needs some service. My Sony deck still sounds best compared to Nak. I will follow your tips soon and also try to get a professional to take a look.

Even I do feel the same bro, i got a nak dek 2 and it gives ERR message on most of the cassettes and it plays without any problem on my sony, feels like discard the nak

 

[Technics_Fan]

That's very unfortunate.... What kind of error do you get....nakamichi dual capstan decks are notoriously complex when compared to a single capstan deck...there are Humpty number of alignment step involved to get it back to spec...head azimuth height stroke tape guide height to name a few...these are very critical for achieving acceptable performance..of course this is just the transport aspect electronically it needs to be recapped..those dreaded orange polypropylene caps go bad...also the deck would benefit from a op amp upgrade...

Bottom line is never expect a pre owned not cared for nak to perform well..especially the ones with the classic transport.....it has to go through some level of professional service (some one who knows nak in and out...)
The problem here in our country is that people quote ridiculous prices for unserviced as is nak or even worse botched up ones...my way is to pick them cheap and spend on belts and maintainence...

 

[Music Freak]

Yes...once your nak is up to spec it will outperform the Sony.... The key is to get your nak to spec...if it still sounds dull / too soft then most probably it is your r/p azimuth...since it is a simple two head single capstan deck you can manually adjust the azimuth with a non magnetic screwdriver to get the best highs...of course this method will be close enough but never perfect....to do it properly you would need a 15khz reference tape ..

Man, I am totally a novice. I will ask the professional to look into the details you have mentioned here at the time of service.

 

[Music Freak]

Even I do feel the same bro, i got a nak dek 2 and it gives ERR message on most of the cassettes and it plays without any problem on my sony, feels like discard the nak

Felt the same man! Currently, my Nak is no match to Sony! Lets hope we resolve our issues ASAP

 

[sunilkm]

Did you get any contact details of good technician for Tape deck service?
Please post.

 

[Music Freak]

Did you get any contact details of good technician for Tape deck service?
Please post.

Hi,

I was suggested a couple of FMs NakTech(Mr.Umesh) Chennai & Nakamichi. I prefer a technician in Bangalore though. As I was bit caught up with my personal stuff, I couldn't contact any of them. You may get in touch with them & get the issues resolved. Good luck!

 

[jmascreen]

That's very unfortunate.... What kind of error do you get

Ok the problem is whenever i insert a cassette to play, it does not start just try to pull the take and stop with Err message. But the same cassettes are working fine on my Sony, Aiwa walkman etc

 

[Technics_Fan]

Ok the problem is whenever i insert a cassette to play, it does not start just try to pull the take and stop with Err message. But the same cassettes are working fine on my Sony, Aiwa walkman etc

Ok this could be due to multiple reasons...But let me talk about the usual suspects...

Nak Cassette Deck two is a single captan dual head sankyo transport...
The reel hubs are gear driven so the failure of a rubber idler is ruled out in this case...

The sankyo transports usually suffer from a poor quality cam motor and reel motor...The carbon brushes and commutator usually get oxidized over the years and dead spots start forming on them...

Couple of things to tryout...

See if the Rew or FF works...if it does then the reel motor is ok....if is a little sluggish try to put your deck in ff mode for couple of hours..this may impove your situation..

See if the head bridge raise when you put you deck to play...if it raises without any hesitation then your cam motor is ok... if it raises halfway and goes down then your cam motor has dead spots....Toggle your deck to pause and then stop repeatedly...and then when the head raises completely to play toggle between stop and play...this may improve your situation..

ofcourse none of the above is a permanent fix...but you can at-least try and improve your situation...Eventually the cam / reel motor have to be rebuilt (commutator cleaned n resurfaced) or replaced if it beyond repair....

 

[jmascreen]

Ok this could be due to multiple reasons...But let me talk about the usual suspects...

Nak Cassette Deck two is a single captan dual head sankyo transport...
The reel hubs are gear driven so the failure of a rubber idler is ruled out in this case...

The sankyo transports usually suffer from a poor quality cam motor and reel motor...The carbon brushes and commutator usually get oxidized over the years and dead spots start forming on them...

Couple of things to tryout...

See if the Rew or FF works...if it does then the reel motor is ok....if is a little sluggish try to put your deck in ff mode for couple of hours..this may impove your situation..

See if the head bridge raise when you put you deck to play...if it raises without any hesitation then your cam motor is ok... if it raises halfway and goes down then your cam motor has dead spots....Toggle your deck to pause and then stop repeatedly...and then when the head raises completely to play toggle between stop and play...this may improve your situation..

ofcourse none of the above is a permanent fix...but you can at-least try and improve your situation...Eventually the cam / reel motor have to be rebuilt (commutator cleaned n resurfaced) or replaced if it beyond repair....

Thanks and I will try this. Also any layman method to test speed?

 

[Technics_Fan]

Calibrating the speed on the deck is usually done with a 3khz or 3.15khz reference tape..This is the only fool proof method that I can think of

But as a layman there are few options that can get you pretty close

1.) By comparing a song on a pre recorded cassette vs other sources like CD or mp3...once you determine the speed by ears you would have to tweak the pot behind the capstan motor a tiny bit and redo the exercise. This method is kinda trial and error and would require multiple iterations before you can get close..but if you approach it systematically with very minor increments at each iterations you can do it is lesser iterations

2.) If you have a access to a quartz locked tape deck you can record a 3khz sine wave at 0db and use it to playback on your deck that needs calibrations..you can use audacity to generate 3khz tone and a simple program like audio tuner would serve you as a frequency counter...and tweak the pot on the back of the capstan motor...worst case you can do the recording on a non direct drive deck that is not quatz lock if you know that the speed on that deck is OK..this way you will be able to only get your deck that needs calibration close to your reference deck...

 

[Selvin]

One more easy method to do layman speed calibration is using cassettes which having track time. Many English cassettes have track time on the inlay card. If the playback time is same as indicated in the card then your deck speed is correct. Ensure the tape is not stretched and good one. But this process is little tedious if adjustment is required.

 

[jmascreen]

Hit with another issue. Play button doesnt respond, need to press multiple times. sometime while press play forward or rewind will happen.. any clues?

 

[Music Freak]

Hit with another issue. Play button doesnt respond, need to press multiple times. sometime while press play forward or rewind will happen.. any clues?

Hope your issue is rectified.

Similar issue with my BX-125 now! When the cassette is inserted, the "play" button is automatically activated (LED glows) i.e. even without pressing it. However, the cassette isn't played & even when "Play" is pressed. None of the other functions seem to respond as desired. At times, "Pause" gets activated.

Anyway, I have already contacted Umesh, who is willing to help me in fixing the issues with my deck, soon