Right Time, Right Place I Found a Working 45 year old Nakamichi Cassette Deck!

August 23, 2024

#494

Gentle reader,

My interest in good sounding music began in 1975 when I had a new friend in the neighborhood. He took me up to his room to show me his stereo. The first thing to assault my eyes were his huge homemade speakers with 18" woofers. He put Pure Prairie League's Two Lane Highway on his turntable and the sound of that title cut! OMG! I could not believe music could sound so amazing! This was still the time where most of us were listening to AM radio. So, to hear a record sound like, well, live music, was a wonderful revelation to me. I went home and looked at my plastic folding suitcase "stereo" and whimpered. Thus began my journey to better sound...

Thanks to thrift stores and much later, the Internet, especially eBay, I have been able to buy hundreds of components and speakers in the last 49 years for bargain prices. If you are already one of my readers, (thank you!) then you have read about some of those pieces over the years I have been writing The Robb Collections.

Here is my latest find, just last week: The Robb Collections: Who Listens to the Radio Anymore? Well, this Budget Audiophile Does and The BOSE WAVE/PC Radio Just Blew My Mind! 

"So," I thought, "why not go to the same two thrift stores as last time and see what has shown up?" The first one, the local Goodwill, did not have much, then I spotted an RCA Double CD recorder. I already have a TDK model, but this one has a bunch of things the TDK does not. I grabbed two CDs, loaded both trays. Both played fine. $20.99? Into the cart it went.

Off to Savers. At first, nothing grabbed my eye. Then, a glance over to the TV's area. "What the hell? Is that a Nakamichi cassette deck? For $6.99!!!" It was obvious someone had beat me to it, since it was still plugged in to the outlet. Also plugged in to it were the previous owner's two pairs of RCA cables. It had a cassette tape still inside, so I played with the controls. It fast forwarded and rewound fine, but pushing play, only the left capstan turned. "Hmm." I pressed stop and carefully pulled out the tape. Sure enough, a loop of tape (not mangled like the old days!) was hanging out. I rolled it back in and tried again. After fast winding  and rewinding the tape, sure enough, it started to play!

I could not get that deck paid for and out to the car fast enough! I got home and did some research on it. 

"The Nakamichi 480 is a stereo cassette deck with Dolby B noise reduction, it was introduced by Nakamichi in 1979 with a list price of USD $495 and discontinued 3 years later in 1982."

That was the lead in to an article about this particular Nakamichi 480 cassette deck. (Link Below) The price of $495 in 1979 amounts to almost $2,300 in 2024 dollars! My previous two Nakamichi finds were back in the halcyon days when folks were either dying or deciding they did not need that big, fancy, stereo anymore. First was a CD-4 which I kept for a while then passed on. Next was a CDC-200 five disc CD changer which retailed for $1,200 in 1998. I bought it for $12 fifteen years ago! It has served me flawlessly ever since.  

With so much of the world's products now being made in China and most of the electronics, it's nice to find that Japan's many fine electronics companies really wanted to provide excellent quality, long lasting, components and speakers. Anyway, enough about that, back to this awesome cassette deck.

Whenever I bring home "new" electronics and speakers, I like to open them up, blow the dust out and just look around.
Just look at the size and complexity of that PCB! Odd that they mounted it components side down. I'm sure they had their reasons.
I had looked for replacement belts for this tape deck and found a couple of sellers on eBay with all the belts and idler "tire" for reasonable prices. Since it is 45 years old, I took a close look at the belts and other moving parts. All are in remarkable condition! How many melted turntable belts have you found? Nothing like that here.
I carefully used a cotton swab wet with 91% isopropyl alcohol and cleaned the idler wheel/tire and the two devices it rubs against. 
What I have found is this: The first time press of PLAY results in nothing moving. I pop out the tape, take a look at the tape, no loop! I wind it forward with my finger, put it back in, press play it play it does! In fact, I have been listening to it the entire time I'm writing this. I'm on side two of Earl Klugh's MOVE tape. 

Nancy and I were only buying cassettes when we met thirty years ago. We each had 100 capacity wooden tape racks. When we got married, we went through the tapes, choosing ones to keep. The first tape I used today to test the deck was her Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's Couldn't Stand The Weather. I had on my KOSS Port Pro Black headphones plugged right into the deck. I had not ever listened to any of Stevie Ray's music before. I discovered two things: I LIKE his music and WOW! I have never heard a cassette sound so GOOD! So, this is a keeper. But, that led me to another revelation, I no longer have ANY of the vintage Yamaha components. A before photo:

The CD player was the first to go. I replaced all the belts, but it sometimes still refused to open the tray. Next was the integrated amp. One day, no left channel. Then, I was frustrated with the tuner. I'd previously called it "the best tuner I've ever had." but it had become quite hissy sounding. Then I remembered HD Radio. I was an early adopter of it. I found a nearly mint Sangean HD Radio component tuner on eBay for $99 with the remote and manual. I had previously bought a second OPPO DV-980H universal player to replace said malfunctioning Yamaha CD player. Now, the OPPO's tray doesn't always want to open or completely close. The 2024 picture:

If you look closely (click or tap on any photo and it will open larger) you will see the cassette deck was playing at the time I made the image, the VU needles are in the middle. The aforementioned RCA CD recorder is also in the stack.
The ins and outs of the stack. The 2024 Yamaha A-S301 integrated amplifier has two digital inputs: optical and coaxial. So, I plugged one into the OPPO just to compare the sound. I usually chose the OPPO's DAC rather than the Yamaha's. But, really, I can hear no difference in the sound. 

I might as well show you the twenty-one dollar RCA CDRW121 CD recorder I found at Goodwill today. It was very dirty, but it cleaned up pretty well. I don't know when it was made. Surely, a few years ago.
The left tray (seen after taking off the cover) is a typical single disc tray. The CDR tray looks like it should be in a desktop PC. 
I put a blank Audio CDR disc in the right tray and it showed BLANK DISC. Then, I put our one CD-single in Katharine McPhee's Somewhere Over The Rainbow in the left tray and did a fast copy. It was quick and I finalized it. Then, with headphones in pressed play on both, switching back and forth. Perfect sound. 

This this has two microphone inputs and can add all kinds of special effects to your recording. Thanks to the Internet, I found and printed out manuals for both components and have some learning to do. 

Well, Eric Marienthal' s VOICES OF THE HEART just finished side two. Yep, this Nakamichi 480 cassette deck may be up to 45 years old, but it still wants what's it's engineers and assemblers wanted it to do: Provide many years of fine music reproduction. 

Links to related articles:

Nakamichi 480 2 Head Cassette Deck | CassetteDeck.org

Nakamichi 480 Review - VintageSonics

Cassette tapes have made a comeback thanks to the Guardians of the Galaxy film but only one Chinese company is making cassette transport mechanisms. And they are crappy. If you want to listen to cassette tapes, start look for vintage Japanese players. 

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this rather lengthy article. Feel free to leave a comment below or on Facebook.

Scott Robb

August 23, 2024

#494

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Who Listens to the Radio Anymore? Well, this Budget Audiophile Does and The BOSE WAVE/PC Radio Just Blew My Mind!

August 19,2024

#493

 Gentle reader,

I've long known about BOSE and their legendary model 901 Direct-Reflecting speakers which have been praised in countless expert reviews since the first models came out in 1968. "1968? That's SO last millennium, dude!", you may be thinking.

Well, this article is not about BOSE speakers, but it is about the BOSE WAVE/PC Radio which I found yesterday at a local thrift store for just $14.99. I had heard about these compact plastic radios which were supposed to be able to "fill a room with outstanding sound!" but never had a desire to even listen to one. Why? The prices BOSE wanted for them! In fact, this model #AWRP1G, which came out in the year 2000, had retailed for $449! That's $837 in 2024 dollars. For a frigging radio? No way!

At the thrift store, I plugged the BOSE in and turned it on, tuned into the local classical (WETA) radio station and raised the volume. Whoa! "How can this little thing sound so good?", I thought. Into the cart it went.

Two official BOSE photographs of early WAVE RADIOS.
This particular radio, as I mentioned is much newer than the ones shown above. It still has a convoluted enclosure for the two tiny two and a half inch diameter speakers within the body of the radio.

I have found several articles on BOSE WAVE RADIOs and 901 speakers and will link them below if you are interested in reading more about either of them.

I do not know if previous models were a different size than this one. At the widest point, it is fourteen inches wide, just over four inches tall and eight and a half inches front to rear.

A quick quote from BOSE WIKIA: 

"Bose Corporation's Wave Music Systems are table top audio systems which were first released in 1984. Various Wave systems comprise CD players, DAB tuners and inputs for computer sources, and in addition most models contain an AM/FM tuner.

Wave systems use a folded waveguide (a series of passages from the speaker driver to the speaker grill), in an attempt to replicate sound from larger systems in a compact design. Bose claims the waveguide "produces full, clear stereo sound from a small enclosure by guiding air through two 26” folded wave guides". In 1987, (Dr.) Amar G. Bose and William R. Short won the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation's Inventor of the Year award for the waveguide loudspeaker system.

The Wave systems use a folded waveguide (a series of passages from the speaker driver to the speaker grill). The waveguide is claimed to improve low-frequency sound "from a small enclosure by guiding air through two 26” folded wave guides".

After showing the radio to my wife, she said, "I saw other BOSE things over there." Off I went to the electronics section of the thrift store, and sure enough, the matching CD player was being looked at by someone else. "Did you get it to play?", I asked. "No, it's unresponsive."

As mentioned above, it's name is: BOSE WAVE/PC Radio. What that means is it is designed to attach, via an included twenty foot cable, to a Windows PC or Laptop computer. The program which came with it allows the radio to find and be able to play all music stored on your computer. It would only play MP3 files however, not WAV files.

Note the stereo inputs and outputs on the left. For the optional CD player and other external sources or to let it be a source component. The small hole on the right is not for headphones but for a 3mm or 1/8th inch adapter to an FM antenna.
It originally came with a remote control which I may or may not find one to buy. Getting back to the radio's performance: Once I got it home and plugged in, after a thorough cleaning, I tried listening to all kinds of stations and music and cranked it up! Again, I cannot emphasize JUST how good this little thing sounds!
The photo above is an official BOSE picture of a pair of BOSE's top-of-the-line 301 Series V speakers.

Since the 1970's I have lusted after BOSE 901 speakers. In fact, my brother-in-law has a pair. They need new foam surrounds for all EIGHTEEN drivers. The grille cloth is glued to the cabinet all the way around. He offered the speakers, stands and equalizer to me. For free. I declined for two reasons: 1: I have no room, I already have seven pairs of speakers(!) and B: I did not want to tackle refoaming all those speakers, once I could get to them, that is. 

Nancy surprised me many years ago with a pair of them. She was hoping that I would use them and not the large (15" woofers) OPTIMUS PRO 4000 speakers I was using in the living room at the time.

Like all BOSE Zero* speakers, the 301 speakers are direct-reflecting and have to be set up equidistant from the room's side walls to sound their best. I did not use them there. Soon after, we converted one bedroom into a den, which later morphed into the listening room. For many years, they have been mounted near the ceiling in this room, directly above the Klipsch KG-4 speakers, which come to think of it, I found in the very same thrift store, and I always run both pairs at the same time.

I wrote an article about mounting them there, it has been quite successful. Audiophiles may poo-poo BOSE products, but, they sure sound great to me. 

*BOSE's numbering system refers to how many drivers are in each speaker cabinet. For example, 201s have two, 401s have four, etc. Thus, the 301's have three drivers, one eight inch bass reflex woofer and two tweeters. Front tweeters can be seen above. The second pair are positioned at the rear corners opposite the front tweeter. The bass reflex ports are there as well, see below. The ports and rear tweeters point to the corners of the room, which allows their sound to reflect off the rear and side walls. The sounds they produce are tall and wide and very airy. Making the room seem larger than it physically is.
But, I have gotten off the topic of this article. Listening to the RADIO. I have owned many radios over the years. I was an early adopter of HD Radio. Our two newest cars have it built-in the factory sound systems. HD in this case means: Hybrid Digital not High Definition. While Steely Dan sang of FM radio having "no static at all..." but it still has hiss. HD Radio, being strictly digital, has no hiss at all. When the HD Radio tuner (of any HD Radio) locks onto the HD signal, it instantly sounds better. 


The funny thing about buying this BOSE WAVE/PC Radio is that it sounds SO good, I can (almost) stop using the fancy HD tuner and my stack (and four loudspeakers) for listening to the radio. It sounds THAT good!
While Blogger (the host of The Robb Collections) has the capability to add videos to blog articles, and I did make a video of the BOSE and the radio below, playing Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony on WETA today, when I played them back the sound my geezer smart phone recorded sounded awful. So, you'll just have to take my word for it that BOSE WAVE radios sound much better than I expected them to.
This is my previous thrift store find. In fact, it too was only $14.99. I have collected (it IS called The Robb Collections, after all) a number of genuine old tube radios and much more recent (and better sounding) "Retro Radios" and written about them in several articles which will be linked below.
It is part of the THOMAS MUSEUM SERIES of radios. Of which I had not previously heard of. It is perched upon another THOMAS, a floor radio. The Robb Collections: I found a floor radio. What's a floor radio? They Were Called Console Radios Once. Take a look.
Unlike every other retro radio, this one is designed to be attached to an antenna.

Like the floor radio and a couple of other radios, it has a cassette tape player built into it. I have not tried it yet. Below are all the articles I have written about radios:





And below, are articles about BOSE 901 speakers and WAVE RADIOS:







Thank you SO much for taking the time to read this rather long article! When I began blogging years ago, it was just something new to try. I had no inkling that people would be actually interested in reading what I had to say. But, almost a half million readers do just that! I am truly humbled by it. I'm closing in on my 500th article! 

Feel free to comment below or on Facebook.

Scott Robb
August 19, 2024
#493


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