Very nice deck that will surprise you with how good it sounds. When I found mine it needed some easily done maintenance, cleaning the idler and capstan wheels. You can do that pretty simply from the front if you take the door off (slide up and toward you), then unscrew the metal cover behind the capstans (two screws in the top corners). A q-tip and some alcohol cleaned the wheels off and the grip was restored.

None I've found thus far, every piece of gear needs maintenance so that doesn't qualify as a weakness.

Crap transport makes it junk. It sounds great, but the idler wheel design is just crap. Don't waste your time with this series of deck. They suck.

Build quality,sound quality.

They require regular tuning to sound their best.

I admit to being a bit of a tape nut, however I lack the budget to be able to go overboard on this medium. i.e Dragon and so on. However, I purchased a BX-125 about 8 years ago and it worked just fine. It possessed a deliciously smooth and refined sound quite unlike any other two head tape deck that I had ever heard. I subsequently purchased for the recording convenience a 3 head Sony 650ES. This was a great deck but not as reliable and, I must admit that my Nak had the edge in detail. My latest purchase is a 1980 model Nak 480. It was going for milk money with a few transport problems due to old age. But $50 later and it is as good as new, and my fate is sealed I will nver by another tape deck again, superb!

Similar Products Used:

Sony 650ES 3 head deck

Crystal clear, accurate Nakamichi sound.

Idler wheel slips over time but can be fixed.

I have owned my BX-150 since it was new in the 80's. I compared it against several others when I bought it including Luxman, Onkyo, Kyocera, Sony, etc. The Nakamichi was so noticeably better it was no contest. Full, clear, rich, true recording and reproduction of any source. Compared side by side with a recording of a CD or quality LP it is almost impossible to tell the difference. It is only barely noticeable if you are really, really listening for it.

As for the BX-150 reliability, there is a rubber idler wheel that dries out over a few years and begins to slip. I called Nakamichi and was able to order a new replacement gear drive replacement that I installed myself. The result is a good as new BX-150 with the reliability problem solved. In the end this is an awesome sounding 2-head deck and is beautiful as well (a real Nakamichi). It may not be a Dragon but for the price it is close enough.

Similar Products Used:

Nakamichi BX-1, Luxman, Kyocera, Newer Nakamichi (Matsush*ta) decks.

Sound,Quality Build,

Ackward Use (compared to Non-Naks). Needs Idler modification to last.

I brought a BX-125 (cheap version of the BX-150, same functionality) ages ago (must be 1983 or so).
Brand New: second hand, the former user had decided after ample use to buy another brand. I used it next to my first Nak 550 and used more than 5 hours a day almost every day until 1993 as I brought a CR7.
Great Deck. Has been serviced once (Idler Modification) and worked well since. Allthough the sound seems not as smooth as the 3-head Naks, it is still much better than all the other Casssette-Decks I own (and owned).

Similar Products Used:

NAK:550,480,BX-1,CR4a,CR7a,202,670,
Revox 215,Technics M-5,Sony 6SE,Teac's

Great sound for a cassette deck. Ease of access to tape path for cleaning via removeable door lid.

Transport problems after first purchasing it.

I bought this deck back in '84 when I was 17. Prior to this deck, I had purchased a TEAC V500x and I remember thinking the world had stopped. Joy turned to discust as each of the 4 TEAC decks I had to exchange kept having problems. One had a warped cabinet but sounded fine. Another had bad flutter and the problems seemed endless.
I decided to pay the difference and buy a Nak BX-150. When I first got it, the quality was obvious both in sound and build. Even with Dolby C it sounded good which I didn't think would happen since I loved the silken silence that dbx offered me on the TEAC. I had the deck for about 2 weeks when it started creasing tapes along the length of the tape. I took it back to the dealer (which was a superb Mom and Pop type dealer where I bought all of my stuff including my first VCR) and they gladly sent it off to Nak at their repair facility in California. The entire transport was replaced 2 times before the problem was corrected. Since I was pretty young and the money I spent on this thing was a lot to me then, I was pissed. When it finally got corrected, the deck served me faithfully for many years up until 1993 when it developed some kind of power supply problem and just before that, the aforementioned in other postings idler problem. I decided that repairing it would probably be expensive beyond reason. I decided to just buy a new deck instead. I decided on the Aiwa ADF-750 which was more flexible than the Nak. It had adjustable bias, 3 heads, remote control and HX pro (which seems useless on something as pitiful as cassettes). Sure it was nice and had okay sound, but it couldn't match that Nak for overall smooth, accurate, clean sound.

I use the Aiwa with an external dbx unit which helps, but I really wish my Nak was working so I could try it with dbx.

I still have the Nak sitting on a shelf. Maybe someday, I'll get it repaired just for the hell of it assuming Nakamichi still offers parts for it.

Similar Products Used:

TEAC V-500x with DBX NR and Aiwa ADF-750 3 head with external dbx type II NR unit

I regret to report that I had a less then favorable review for the BX-150. Iown the Dragon, DR-1, and DR-2, and these cassette recorders are the reference
to which all others are judged! They're flawless in their ability to record
and play back music, whether from a live or recorded source, and they're in-
destructable in fit and finish!

Granted, when I auditioned the 2-head BX-150 at Absolute Sound in Winter Park,
FL in '86, it also had the "Nakamichi Sound"...sweet, pure, and accurate! It
became my dubbing deck for when I transfered live pipe organ recordings from the Dragon to the BX-150 for copies, and when master or copied cassettes were
played on either machine, you could not tell any difference from the two!

A few years down the road, even with routine cleaning and demagnetizing, the
transport mechanism on the BX-150 began to slip, hang up, and even stop play-
back alltogether! After having the deck repaired by a qualified Nakamichi
service center, it again began to slip, and even eat the tapes! A second repair
and replacement of parts resulted in the deck lasting 6 months until it acted
up for a third time...I gave it to Good Will Industries!

Needless to say, I am very disappointed with the performance of the Nakamichi
BX-150...it sounded great when it worked, but its reliability is questionable.
My particular deck may have been one out of a million that had faults, I don't
know, but I can say that I'm very pleased with my other Nakamichi components,
and will continue to purchase their products in the future (I'm eyeing the
DVD-10 DVD Player).

Great sound

Idler wheel

I've also run into the idler wheel problem, and the posts here suggest that it's perhaps not such an isolated problem. After the idler crapped out for the third time in 10 years, I gave up and retired the deck. Too bad, because otherwise this is a very good tape deck, with excellent sound reproduction. Loss of rating point due to poor build quality of the transport mechanism

Similar Products Used:

Sony