This deck has been absolutely stable for many years. There was a change in production from an idler wheel hub drive for fast forward and rewind to a gear drive which mine luckily has. Accordingly mine has never needed periodic work. Sonically it is excellent. It's a three head design with Dolby B and C.

None were noted.

The BX300 is an excellent deck. My unit has the gear vs idler wheel drive for the take up reels. The deck performs flawlessly and other than cleaning has never required maintenance. The sound quality is excellent and the deck has all needed features. I had a Nakamichi Dragon years ago and it was a nightmare requiring expensive service on multiple occasions.

No weaknesses noted, the decks simplicity and sound quality has been great. I recommended getting a version with the gear vs idler take-up reel drive.

I bought my band new and still have it. I have took people old cassette and transfer to CD with help of with Aural Exciter Type C. Come out with all the highs and lows.

Not much mine that I can say that hasn't been said about this great deck. Ergonomically it's not the greatest design. No auto tape type selector, no auto monitor function and I wish the cassette well was back lit, also the cassette window could be bigger but it's not nearly as ridiculous as windows on the cassette deck 1 or 1.5 etc. However the sonics are outstanding. Nakamichi really put all the money where it counts. Unless one has a Dragon or Cr-7 for direct comparison one would be en cloned to think that it doesn't get any better than the BX-300. I have a Dragon but if I didn't I could live happily ever after with the BX-300. I've had mine for 13 year not a single problem.

I got the BX-300 more than a month ago for $60. It did not rewind and ate tape when I got it. I replaced the idler tire and this tape deck works like new. It has low hours of use. The magnetic heads are in perfect condition. This BX-300 just simply blows my 2-head BX-150 away. The BX-150 come close to the BX-300 when using TDK SA tape but the BX-300 bias fine tune can make all other tapes sound identical to the source. Even normal tape recorded by the BX-300 sounds better than Cr02 tape on other decks. I have many tape decks such as BX-2, BX-150, NAD, B&O and none of them can make good recording on normal tape. The BX-300 is my first tape deck that makes me believe it does have 20kHz bandwidth. Now I don't even need to select tape quality because all tape sounds great on this machine. The BX-300 sounds much better than DVD players. It sounds as good as my Arcam Alpha7 CD player.

Excellend recording freq response
Excellent playback freq response
Very low wow & flutter (comparable to that of Nak ZX-9)
Very simple contruction - reliable and easily maintainable

idler tire

Hello,

I have my Nak BX-300 for an year and a half. My hobby is restauration of high end vintage cassette decks from the 80s and the end of the 70's. The other cassette decks currently at home are Revox B215, Nak Dragon, Nak RX-505, Nak 680ZX, Tandberg TCD-440A, Pioneer CT-F1250, Pioneer CT-S800 (i.e. CT-91 Elite). I bought the BX-300 from Ebay for 50 bucks - it needed belt replacement. I have to say it has an absoleutly gorgeous sound both in playback and recording. The frequency response is easily +/- 2 dB within 20Hz-21KHz - I did the measurements with my SigmaTel 192 KHz audio card on my laptop using the Virtins Audio Frequency analyzer + signal generator. The recording is absoultelly indistinguishable than the playback at least to my ear. This is true even to classical music. Shostakovich sounds excellent on BX-300 as much as on the Dragon or the RX-505. The wow & flutter is very low becuase this cassette deck uses the same cog-free capstan motor as Nak ZX-9 and Dragon (only the Dragon has 2 of those 1 per capstan). Bias control and pitch control are very useful. This is clearly one of the best Nak decks you can buy these days especially if you do not want to spend too much money on vintage deck. Very simple construction , very easy to maintain - belt replacement and idler tire replacement. The only week spot of this deck which I could point out is the idler tire - it is tiny and finicky. But the idler tire can be upgraded with gear transport which are more durable. Due to this idler tire problems many problem conclude that the motor needs replacement which is incorrect; these motors are very reliable.

Similar Products Used:

Nak Dragon Nak RX-505 Nak 680ZX Revox B215 Tandberg TCD-440A

3-heads, pitch control, dual capstan, that great Nak sound.

See comments on repair costs.

I love/loved my BX-300 deck. It was working flawlessly until about two years ago (2005), then every so often it wouldn't rewind properly. In 2007 this became problematic to the point that it needed repair. This is where www.nakamichi.us comes in (aka Electronic Service Labs). I just want to warn buyers of used Nak equipment (or folks thinking about repairing their Naks) that fully repairing their machines is a considerable investment. A Nak deck refurb is a $800+ deal! There are few (if any other) places in the US that have this kind of expertise and access to parts. Yes, you do get the equivalent of a new tape deck but you need to decide whether it's worth the investment. I suspect many 20 yr old Nak decks are starting to experience motor drive issues. The BX-300 refurb updated some known weak components and replaced others. Suggestion: If you can find a used BX-300 that's gone through a recent refurb at a decent price, you've gotten a bargain!

Superbly accurate sound, excellent build quality, very reliable.

None! (really!)

The best tape deck I have EVER had or used (from a sonic standpoint at least.) I currently have 4 3-head machines including: Sony TC-K555 (early ES series) Teac C-2X (Identical to early Tascam 122 broadcast deck) Tandberg TCD-440A Nakamichi BX-300 And I've had other 3-head decks (Onkyo Integras, Pioneers, TEACs) and the Nak is hands down, the best sounding deck I have ever used. (You'll notice my others don't exactly suck either, so this is a big compliment.) I work at a broadcast facility with Studer & Tascam machines, and when I want to record something that sounds exactly like the original on cassette, I use my Nak at home. It works perfectly under heavy use every time, and the sound is perfect. Maybe the Dragon, etc. sound as good or better but my BX-300 makes dead-on copies of the originals to my ears. I want another one! And it has a pitch control, which is a great feature.

Similar Products Used:

Sony TC-K555 (early ES series) Teac C-2X Tandberg TCD-440A Onkyo Integra 3-head deck (Can't remember which one. Mid-80s vintage) Tascam 122 MkII

Number of features crammed into such a tight and smart looking package. A sleek looking unit that even today in 2003, looks distinguished in my A/V system rack. Costs considerably less than some of Naks pricier models and doesn't short-change the consumer on sonic ability.

Out of production now which is too bad for the sound enthusiests of our country. Now we have to put up with digital (less accurate) cd recorders which cost a bundle and if a scratch or skip is detected, the machine spits it out!

After reading some of the reviews of some of the whiners I felt compelled to write my own review of this machine. I call it a machine because after learning electronics from the Navy, and typewriters soon after that (era late 80's) I know what the difference between a IBM Selectric III, and a cheap Olivetti rip-off. No the BX-300 isn't a Dragon, but then it didn't cost the nearly $2,500.00 price tag of the Dragon either. At $750.00 it was priced about 1/3 the cost, but it delivered much more than 1/3 the features and performance. How many decks made either now or in the past had 3 discrete heads, a pressure pad-lifter, dual closed loop capstan rollers, pitch control, fine bias controls, provide 3 motors, direct drive and fit all this in a package that's less than 5" high, so compact that you can stack without concern on top of it (no vents) and the door cover removes for easy head and transport maintenance!! What more could the avg joe-sixpack going to college and unable to afford a Dragon possibly want? The Dragon is hand built and as such needs to be maintained (professionally) on an almost annual basis. Like the pianos of old...remember the tuner-guy who came out to adjust the strings? Or the typewriter-man who came out to clean & repair the school's typewriters which skipped or typed 2 RR's? Well the Dragon needs that kind of care and maintenance. The BX-300 Doesn't! About once ever 4-5 years it might need the head alignment checked, and have the gears & bearings lubed. But that's all. Of course like all production models, you get a few lemons. When the BX-300 was being built, recalls in the automotive industry were far and widespread. Did everyone sell their Pinto's or Mavericks? I doubt it. It was just accepted is all. Now some guys with an axe to grind come here and knock a machine that was mass produced numbering in the tens of thousands. I would submit that the guys who lambasted Naks went on to find out that other production made decks were no better. Nobody has come back to gloat? If they think the Sony ES is a better buy fine. I'm not so convinced having owned a Sony, and after looking inside, I didn't see a case for the Sony that Nak missed the mark on. So much for the analysis of someone who works on them. I'm happy to report my BX-300 has served me faithfully for almost 5 years, and the owner before that since he purchased it back in '87. He wasn't rough on it, and neither am I. As a result my BX-300 is tight and solid and I've owned Sony ES, and Pioneer, Kenwood, Sharp, even JVC's and to me the clear winner with features and sonic excellence is by far and away the Nakamichi!

Similar Products Used:

Sony ES, and Pioneer, Kenwood, Sharp, and JVC's tape-decks. Teamed with Harman Kardon AVR-8000 receiver and AR speakers.

I have been an advent hobbyist in high fidelity going on twenty years now. It all started in 1978, I was then a fifteen year old teenager. Christmas time that year, I received my first stereo. It was a Sears stereo receiver with a built-in 8-Track Player/Recorder with a separate BSR Record Changer (if you want to laugh, go ahead). While it wasn't hardly what you call hi-fi, at least, it was something I could come home to everyday and listen to after a long day in school. Then some five years later (now, I'm twenty years old), I was working to make my own money, putting myself through college, I finally upgraded from that dreadful sounding box to a real hi-fi system. This system consisted of a pair of Polk Audio Monitor 4 Bookshelf Speakers, a JVC Stereo Receiver, a Luxman K-220 Cassette Deck (1984 - 1987), and a NAD 5255 Compact Disc Player (obtained in 1985). This system has served me well from 1983 to 1990. While it wasn't exactly what you would call high-end audio (the rest of the pieces were of somewhat high-end pedegree, save the receiver), that system given me my first taste of hi-fi. Then in 1990, I have upgraded from this system to my attempt to put together a high-end audio system. This system consisted of a pair of KEF Reference 102 Bookshelf Speakers/w KUBE Equalizer, a B&K ST-140 Power Amplifier, a Perreaux SM2 Dual-Mono/Class-A Preamplifier (purchased used in 1993), and Monster Cable Interconnects and Speaker Cable. I owned this system from 1990 to Present. In an attempt to extend and tighten the bass response and increase the overall volume capabilty of audio system, I am now upgrading once again. For more information, see my entry in the "Dream System" site titled "My Actual $10K Audio System (Unrevised). With exception of that Sears Stereo that I owned as a teenager, my two previous component systems, as well as the high-end system I am presently building have one common denominator: The Cassette Deck that I presently own, the Nakamichi BX-300.
I purchased my Nakamichi BX-300 brand new in 1987. It is now a little more than ten years old. In the ten years that I owned it, it has been a thoroughbred of a tape deck (this thing has recorded approximately 150 - 200 tapes for me), during the whole time I owned it, it has been repaired only twice.

The Nakamichi BX-300 is a single-well cassette deck that has three discrete heads, dual capstans, and a transport mechanism that was also featured in most of their more expensive decks which were available at the time (save the Dragon), (three-motors with direct-drive). It has a Monitor/Source switch, Dolby B & C Noise Reduction Systems, settings for the three basic types of tape (Normal, High Bias (CrO20, and Metal), selectable equalization between 70 and 120, an MPX Filter, Memory Stop and Start, Timer Start and Stop, selectable automatic replay after rewind, a digital tape counter, a 50dB Recording Meter with Level Controls, a headphone jack with variable output control, a manual bias control, and a variable pitch control. The only features this deck lack are microphone jacks (sorry Dr. Hunchuck.), an automatic tape biasing system, and an adjustable azimuth control.

It has wow and flutter specs that are as low as 0.027%, 0.048% at peak, and covers a frequency range ranging from 20Hz. to 20,000Hz. The sound is clear and transparent, though it doesn't quite have the resoultion that you'll get from a CD Player, but it delivers a quality sound no less. However, it sounds better than the FM Broadcasts that I have recorded off the tuner.

When Dr. Hunchuck said in his cassette deck review that "I quote" (One reviewer claimed that one should just purchase the cheapest dual-well deck with Dolby B/C Noise Reduction and (didn't bother to throw in S), use it until it breaks, then throw it away and buy a new one.),"End Quote". I guess he was referring to my comment that I have explained to Abbstract in July when I was advising him asd to him putting his system together. If one of these things do break, try taking it to a quality repair shop, get an estimate, then you will see for yourself that my comment is well justified. I do agree with him on the point that as technologies such as DAT and affordable CD Recorders emerge and are perfected, cassettes may very well be a thing of the past. If and when this happens, I will also take part in this new era. But until then, cassettes remain alive. I also agree with him on the fact that now, a quality cassette deck is a neccesity.

To conclude, let just say that from my very first component system, to my present system, to the one I am building now, the Nakamichi BX-300 has always been a mainstay and cornerstone in all of my systems. The reasons being the sound quality and transport design (it was one of last affordable Naks to feature three motors with direct-drive, the last being the CR-4A that was in production from 1988 until about 1991). The newer Naks do not have this design. So, unless I can get my hands on a CR-7A for a great price, this deck isn't going anywhere. Only a Nakamichi CR-7A is capable of supplanting the BX-300 from my system.

Overall Rating: 5 Stars (Without a doubt)!

Suggested Retail Price: $695.00. (1987).