The Dragon bit me....

[Celadon]

I just picked up a Nak Dragon.

I tested it at the guys house just to make sure that it did the record/ playback /azimuth adjust thing and everything looks good, just came home and cleaned and demagged the tape path, put in a tape I had laying around and wow, if it sounds like this before I do any calibration or recording I know I am gonna be lovin' it.

This looks like a low mileage machine, and from what the guy said - "he didn't like it because it was a gift and it was too complicated for him" Anyone know where I can find somone to give me gifts like that ??????


2 things I am wondering:

I have some virgin TDK SAX that I want to do some recording with. This tape is "IECII/TypeII" and am wondering what tape setting to use. (EX,SX, or ZX.)

I was able to d/l the owners manual. and the cal process looks like fun... lmao!

Second thing-

The only thing I can see not functioning properly is that when you go from play in either direction to stop mode it makes a chirp that you can feel as well as hear. I can feel it as the whole tape carrier assy moves into place - any thoughts here ?

I feel like a kid at christmas! this thing rocks, I have 2 other Naks an RX202 and a dead 480 both dusty and haven't seen much use - but this thing is in a completely different league.

Is Nak still selling some of the parts for this machine? I remember dealing with Patty (awesome girl she is) at Nak a few years back and she was telling me that parts were becoming NLA for the decks.

Thanks in advance!

Richard

[hifi_nut]

IIRC from owning a 682ZX over 20 years ago:

EX - Ferric tapes
SX - Chrome and equivalent tapes
ZX - Metal tapes

Jorge

[retrokeeper]

What luck Rich!!I just aquired a Dragon too...got it home without testing it first,put in a tape....no playback!!The head assembly was not moving,take up reels were though,lites were indicating it was suppose to be playing.After a mild cursing episode...took the cover off and proceeded to enter the "heart" of the beast,found a belt needed replaced on the cam drive for the head assembly movement.Replaced that after MUCH disassembling of stuff in the way...and doing this WITHOUT a service manual....put it all together,and she works fine and makes the same "chirp" noise that yours does.I'm not saying this is normal,but everything "seems" to work fine.Now if that stupid head alignment belt goes out,that's really going to be a bitch to get to!! :no:It's a nice deck,sold for a pretty penny when it was new,that's for sure..something like $1700.00 :sigh: An awful lot of fancy stuff in this deck to go wrong in a big way...but it sure sounds nice.I too need a manual,let me know where you get yours.I got this one for $25. :yes: Rob

[packratt]

Why don't you go over to naks.com and register your deck? There is a very active mailing list with a bunch of knowledge about the dragon.

[Celadon]

Hi Fi Nut,

Thanks for your reply -

If I would have taken the time to read the owner's manual I would have seen that the settings for the SAX tape are indeed listed.

Actually the manual states:

TDK SAX, Maxell XL IIS, UDXLII, and Ampex Grand Master 2=

*SX, and 70 * 120/70 (switch depressed)

Regards,

Richard

[Celadon]

packratt,

thank you for the tip, you betcha I will register her, I think she is a pretty low serial # ~3500 if I remember....

I am still going throught the manual, and want to do the bias eq stuff and make a lil tape or 3 today!

Richard

[packratt]

One of the members of naktalk maintains a site with many of the nak manuals. He does ask that you register as a courtesy.

Here is the link to the dragon manuals
http://www.naks.mine.nu/43.php

[Celadon]

Retro, Rob--

I was able to download both, the owners man and the service man in PDF for free by doing a google, (hifiengine.com has one of them.)

If you need more information or links -- let me know, we are certainly in for quite the ride..... BUT before you touch anything under the hood --- pleaaaase talk with the guys that know these decks, cause adter looking at the service manual - this is a deck left up to the big boys for repair.

Gotta wonder the total number of the production run for the Dragon ?

I remember horror stories, either you love or hate them -- from what I can see.

Richard

[retrokeeper]

Thanks Richard for the info,I really appreciate you doin' the footwork.I wasn't too worried about the belt replacement,pretty to the point...get in,change,get out.Anyways...I like diggin' into projects like this,didn't think I did half bad for a blind try without a service manual.I do want to see how they change the head alighnment belt inside that plastic box they imprisoned it in...looks like a real chore!!Thanks again. :thmbsp: ....Rob