Nakamichi OMS-5. When is a compact disc player for the home ridiculous? Too expensive, too cheap? How about well made and sounds good and is still cheap? How does $150.00 sound for Nak? I thought so. Now lets get down to the machine with the cheap back row price. Heavy solid build, smart and not cluttered control panel. Just the basics please. I need to get the remote for the programming functions, but so what?? All discrete high quality components on the inside. Transport front and left, power supply rear left main motherboard with its various components to the right front to rear. This CD player was built in December of 1984. That means, it used the expensive resistor ladder converter designs, not the single bit junk converters like today. Although my NAD 502 sounds fine with its single bit converter, but the Nak shames the NAD in the warmth department. More on that later. The transport is a robust design. Naks’ own. No OEM rip off copy. It is not uncommon for manufacturers to OE their components from other companies. Philips and Sony supply transports to allot of companies. As does TEAC. I like companies that keep it all in house if they can. Many times this means better quality, but not always. The drawer is large and comes out and loads slowly. I like this quality. Shows class. It does not chuck your CDs’ in there. Well enough of the gimmicks, how about the sound??!!
Make me my noises please: The first thing that the Nak impressed me with was its’ warmth. Wow, lots of it. Also, its’ imaging was very good. I could close my eyes hear my place on stage with the performers. A good sign.
Natalie Cole has a rich tone. Not harsh and cool like my Nad. Sounds uh, umm, umm, like a “Record”. There! I said it. O.k.? I think that is the ultimate compliment I can pay to a CD player. It is not exactly like that, but pretty darn close, without all those pop and click things. Tight bass, smooth midrange, and a polite treble. I hate hard forward treble. So for my money, $150.00 worth less taxes of course, I definitely scored another home run here on the cheap bleeding nose upper grandstand view. Bring your binoculars. Once you hear the OMS-5 you will see. V.C.

Well,as expected,I was right. This cd player must have been used alot. The laser pickup is failing and needs replacement,and the drawer drive belt is worn,and will be replaced. The flourescopic display I will do another time,and the silkscreen on the controls I can do myself. So right now I am waiting for service to finish it. By the way the laser pickup is not cheap. $175.00 for the pickup. We'll see if my investment pays off.V.C.

great build quality,great tracking,sweet analog stage.

nakamichi service took too long to fix it

Finally got the OMS-5 back. Wow,what difference a month makes. New laser pickup and alignment. An I.C. replaced to eliminate the distortion in the left channel. A new CPU chip for the logic functions. Now the OMS-5 tracks like a dream. My Peter Kater disc(SD805)"Pursuit of happiness" which causes my other players to click and pop,the Nak is silent in that area. Just music. Obviously the error correction is dealing with the problems with this disc.Even still it still sounds warm and lush compared to my Nad. Amanda Mcbrooms' voice has depth and the fullness I know she has in a live performance. My 24k Steely Dan disc has all the pace and depth and dynamics I could want,good bass here too. I always liked the ladder converters better than the 1-bit things. I looked and took apart the old laser assembly. What a nice piece of engineering. Cast aluminum housing with glass optics,not plastic thank you. It in itself is substantial. I had my friend pick up the player. He was amazed in just its' heavy weight feel. This is not a toy. I will use this player for my personal enjoyment listening while my Nad will still do studio duties. Just does more than the Nak. But when I want to kick back and play my favorite cds'and just drift away in my music with my Sennheiser HD-580s'and not worry about nothing. Just close my eyes and let the OMS-5 do its magic. Not bad at all for 1984 technology. I am very happy with this player. Way reccomended for those who want a warm personable player. Just be prepared to have it fixed first. The original user would have used it to death. But hey,it's worth it. Keep the music playing. V.C.

Similar Products Used:

Sony cdp-505es,nad 502

Robust build,ladder converters,great transport,nice analog section

now broken and Nakamichi is taking forever to fix it

Time flies and the OMS-5 Nakamichi is still not fixed. After a month and a day. The repair service dept. at Nakamichi of Torrance still has not finished it yet. So far the distortion in the left channel has been fixed,the laser pick-up that was failing was replaced. Now there is a logic lock-up problem that occurs after 4 hours or so of testing. Fine,replace the CPU that manages transport functions,no big deal right??

Well, Nakamichi service has been very silent and elusive in calling me with the progress of the OMS-5. I had to continuously call them. Their phone line to service was very often not attended,so messages had to be left. This by the way after giving them their 2 weeks that they say,they needed to fix the OMS-5. From that time,it still was not ready. They indicated to me at that time that the laser was failing and the loading drawer drive belt was bad too. The l.e.d. display and control plates I told them to disregard. So basically, the only things needed are/were the laser pickup and the drive belt for the drawer loading. No big deal...so I said..”go ahead and do it”. Another week and goes by,still no call after I authorized the repair and being told it should take “2 days” to fix. I went personally down to Nakamichi distributing center at Torrance Ca. and spoke to a service repair lead person. She was very nice,though not very helpful. I was very calm and concerned that the OMS-5 was taking so long and that no one thought about calling me and letting me know how the OMS-5 repairs were progressing. The lead told me that the service manager was not here today and that he would be in tomorrow. I said fine. I discussed with her the “discovered” lock up problem. Also, the pickup replacement and belt replacement was discussed. Both the pickup and belt were done at that time. If I had not shown up at Nakamichis’ door, the lockup problem would have never been told to me. This is very disturbing. So after being assured that the service manager would call me about the OMS-5 the next day, I left.

Well the next day came,and do you think he would have called first thing in the morning?? Nope. I didn’t get contacted until about almost 5:00p.m. that day. When I did talk to him. He seem nice enough,though not very empathetic about keeping customers informed of how their gear was doing under services’ care. I got the impression that service didn’t want to tell the bad news about the “Microprocessor” which controls the OMS-5s’ functions would cost an additional “$50.00”.

This to me was odd,if not stupid. The service manager told me I could get the newer cd players for about the same money as the OMS-5s’ repair. I told him that if I didn’t want the OMS-5 repaired, I wouldn’t have wasted everyone’s time bringing it in. Now the bill is around $350.00 approximately. On top of my $150.00 initial purchase,that is not unreasonable. The OMS-5s’ build is better than anything they have now. The converters and analog sections are better. The power supply is better,and the chassis design is more robust than any of the “current” machines they have. The only thing with the newer units’ is there tracking performance is better than the OMS-5s. It comes down to cost. Nakamichi is obviously feeling the pinch. I want this unit fixed. I don’t care about their nonsense at this point. I told the service manager to fix the OMS-5 and put it to specs. I was told I should here from service “Tuesday” of this week. It is now “Thursday”,and still no call has been received by Nakamichi service. I left them my pager number which is on 24 hours a day, as well as my home number too.

So obviously,they have not fixed it, and more parts are needed,and they just aren’t sure if I am going for it. I will be surprised if I get it back this month.
The service manager assured me that my OMS-5 would be given priority. Well it looks like nothing has happened. I hate to see what happens if something doesn’t get “priority”. I will let you all know how it finally goes on my next chapter.

Stay tuned...sincerely,Vincent.

Similar Products Used:

Nad 502,Sony cdp-505es cd players

It is expected that anything this old needs to be gone through. Alignment of the transport laser,and the like. The unit had also developed a distortion in the left channel. I am also looking into replacing the l.e.d. assembly. Some of the elements are dim and hard to read. I am still enthusiastic about the OMS-5 and await its return once Nakamichi has done their thing to get OMS-5 performing as I know it can. Will keep all informed. V.C.