Nakamichi BX-1 Cassette Deck -

Introduced in 1982 the Nakamichi BX-1 and the BX-2 were the first Nakamichi cassette decks to use an outsourced transport, in this case from Sankyo instead of using the built in-house Asuka transports by Nakamichi.

The Asuka transports were extremely well made and robust and tested to cycle tens of thousands of times. The Sankyo transports, though well made often developed issues with belts, idler tires and weak plastic gearing.  Nakamichi designed these decks with the Sankyo transport to cut cost and increase profits.  While that certainly did work for a time, I believe this is what eventually let them into bankruptcy as these cheap transports were used from here on out in the majority of their machines.  

That said, the Nakamchi BX-1 was a really nice sounding deck.  Being a two head design, there was no off the tape monitoring, never a big deal for me.  It was well biased for Nakamichi brand cassettes, essentially private label clones of TDK’s excellent MX, SA and AD cassette tapes, so it also matched well when using Maxell UDXL II and UD tapes which are my personal favorites.

I used the Nakamchi for a couple of years and sold it to a friend for what I paid for it, which was full retail price.  About a year later I learned that the deck had transport failure.  I was surprised, because I never made more than maybe ten or fifteen cassettes with the deck and I know my friend never made any.  He would play the occasional store bought tape, but had a very small collection, so the machine didn't have many miles on it at all.

I replaced the Nakamichi with an Advent 201, and then later a Pioneer CT-F 1250, which I replaced with a Nakamichi 600.  I must have owned nearly 40 cassettes decks over the years and found that the Nakamichi 500 and the Advent 201/201A were my favorites.  I also found that I really loved the smooth, mechanical built in-house Asuka transport, all of which lift the cassette shell pressure pad away from the tape.

The Nakamichi designed and built Asuka transports are so well made that the engineers considered the crude cassette shell pressure pad inadequate for consistent tape to head contact.

If you’re looking for a good basic Nakamichi, the BX-1 should not be overlooked.  It’s easy to service, parts are plentiful for the Sankyo transport and the machine runs smoothly and sounds very good.  Many feel that these are not “real” Nakamichi’s due to the third party transports.  I kind of feel like that too.  But the final assembly and the electronics are all Nakamichi.  So say what you will.  

These are good machines, easy to service and sound great.  If you’re looking for a machine to use day in and day out for years to come, then I would choose something a bit more robust.  More to come!

Plaid Room Records -

I was reading someones blog post recently and they were discussing an amazing Bill Evans record that I didn’t own.  I wasn’t aware that I was missing this one.  It was Bill Evans and Jim Hall Undercurrent.  A quick scan of my Bill Evans collection and sure enough, not on the shelf.  

Since I always browse the Bay for Jazz and Classic rock albums that I must own, I quickly found a listing for a new copy of this Lp by MOBILE FIDELITY SOUND. 

I have many MOBILE FIDELITY SOUND Lps and have alway known them to be of good quality and excellent sound so I pull the trigger and purchase one from Plaid Room Records.  Like many, I am always buying records on -line and have always been happy with the standard LP shipping boxes.  But this?  This was over the top.

This is the STRONGEST LP shipping box I have ever received!  In fact, I saved the box to show others.  They even shipped it with another LP for additional strength. A never heard of Brizillian Jazz trio which turned out to be very listenable. I kept it and put it in my collection.

I will be a regular customer of Plaid Room Records.  Check the out on the Bay or here at www.plaidroomrecords.com

Family owned and just a mouse click away.  More to come!

Oh, that is NOT my favorite Bill Evans record by the way.  Not by a long shot.  =)

McIntosh MC-2105 Amplifier -

I really loved this amplifier.  McIntosh rates the power at 105 watts per channel, but some test reports put the power closer to 140 watts per channel. So, the power is there and of course this amp has the traditional MAC sound.  

Not too much bass, not too much midrange, not too much treble.  As with everything MAC, the sound  like the specs are conservative. That’s not a bad thing.  Those who love MAC for their sound, enjoy the fact that there is no color, just accuracy.  No BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!, just well defined bass.  No sucked out midrange, No bloated midrange, No Ice Pick in the forehead midrange.  It’s just smooth.  Nothing SHRILL, with the highs, No HARSHNESS with the highs, No PIERCING cover your ears treble.  Just highs, when there are some.  Nothing fancy in the treble department.

So the McIntosh MC-2105 can be described as ‘pleasant’.  That too is a very good thing.  That means the sound won’t drive you away.  The sound stage will be well positioned and stable.  Listening fatigue will probably never occur, though boredom will raise its ugly head from time to time depending on the quality of your program material and the sound of your preamp.

McIntosh fans, always use McIntosh amps with McIntosh preamps.  I know I did.  I broke the mold once and used a SUMO Andromeda with my McIntosh C-26.  The SUMO just had more of everything in the amp department, and brought the C-26 alive in ways that I had never heard.  I liked it.

Still, McIntosh amps used with McIntosh preamps will let you sleep better at night.  It seems to restore balance in your audio trained mind.  It's the way things are supposed to be.

That said, there is still something captivating about the MAC sound.  It just sounds ‘right’.  It won’t draw your attention and make you stop reading a book while your listening the way that Sansui does, it won’t make you wonder where that low note just came from the way a Krell KSA 50 does, it won’t make you get up and replay a passage of music the way a Marantz 7T/15 combination will, and it won’t make you say, “I’ve never heard that before” the way a Nikko Beta ONE and Alpha ONE  will.  

It just does what it does without any fanfare.  Good, pleasant music all of the time.  Day in and day out.   It’s the McIntosh way and there is nothing wrong with that.

I used my McIntosh MC-2105 in my MAC system to power either a pair of Polk Model 5’s or a pair of EPI 100’s.  The Mac sounded just like it should, wonderful.  It, like all Mac gear from this era was built to last forever.  It was beautiful to look at with it’s blue/teal meters, thick glass face plate and real walnut veneer cabinetry   Weighing at just under 70lbs, in its fully chromed chassis it was a beautiful work of art.  I loved it!  Paired with my McIntosh C-29 preamp, I could sit and listen all day long, especially when I had the EPI’s hooked up.

This amp was built during a time when McIntosh meant something.  The audiophile who purchased this amp intended to use it for life.  It certainly had enough power to drive any sensible speaker to beyond concert volume and I never had an instance where I heard this amp strain or clip.

This is what I call a ‘real’ MAC amp.  Gloriously made, using the highest skilled craftsman and the highest quality parts and impeccable quality control.  Highly Recommended!

The Cassette Tape -

Sunday mornings, I will more often than not put on a cassette tape of Yo Yo Ma, or something from Windham Hill as I sip coffee and plan the day. I have been doing that for decades and it’s now dawned on me, how old these home recording are.  Yet, they sound incredible.  My Yo Yo Ma / Karen Marie Garret cassette is recorded on an ADVENT true Chromium Dioxide 120min tape.  Even with the micro thinness of this tape, the fidelity is wonderful.  No dropouts, no noise, just beautiful music, and hour per side.

I also realize that I have favorite cassette tape brands.  Maxell being number one in my book.  I’ve been recording cassettes since 1976, and I have never had a bad experience with a maxell tape.  Never.  The original UD is the one I will choose more often than not, but truthully they are all really good tapes.  

I'm also a fan of Maxell UDXLII high bias tape in its many forumulations.  It's outrageously good!

  

TDK SA, prior to 1982 is my second favorite. From there, I really don’t care.  Fuji is pretty good.  Never did care for Scotch brand cassettes or BASF for that matter, but I am sure it’s just my personal brand loyalty.  I love BASF open reel tape for example.  AGFA also made really good cassette tape, though it was never widely distriubuted in the US.  

There is a small group of cassette fans wondering why the format isn’t coming back as strong as the LP has.  I am one of them.  I have cassettes that are nearly 60years old and sound absolutely incredible.  I am hoping, that someone like SONY, or TEAC will actually start building cassette decks agin.  Currently there is only ONE cassette deck manufacturer, and they private label their nearly identical machines to Pioneer, TEAC, Tascam, SONY etc, etc.

It would be nice to see a resurgence of the home cassette deck.  Making dubs of favorite LPs, mixed tapes, etc., has always been an enjoyable past time and certainly would sound better than your best streaming service.  

I need to have T-Shirts made!  Long live the compact cassette… I can see it now. =)

McIntosh MC-2300 Power Amplifier -

The McIntosh MC-2300 was my first basic Mac power amplifier.  I bought it paired with a McIntosh C-29 preamp.

The MC-2300 is an imposing piece of gear, being 19” wide, about 10.5” tall  and 18” deep it is a beast.  It weighs in at 128lbs!  You find a place to put it and that’s where it stays.  

The 300 watts per channel rating is ridiculously modest, but it is noteworthy that MAC specs that rating all the way down to a .05 ohm load in stereo and .25 ohm load in mono!  That’s nearly a direct short!  

The McIntosh MC-2300 is well know for being used at Woodstock, powered the Grateful Dead’s wall of sound and was the personal guitar amp of Jerry Garcia.  They were used in outrageous commercial applications where they absolutely ruled the market place powering stadiums and concerts halls around the world.  I always felt that the MC-300 build in answer to Crowns famous DC-300, also widely used in sound reinforcement.  The difference of course was the power.  150 watts per channel for the Crown and 300+ for the Mac.

Back in 1997 I was in upstate Michigan in an audio showroom.  It was a rainy Saturday afternoon and the in house tech was bench testing amplifiers.  Not client amps, just some used gear they had laying around.  It was a slow day and it passed the time.  I mentioned that I owned an MC-2300 and noticed that they had one on the floor.  “Wanna see what it’s made of?” Remarked the tech.  You bet!  I gave him a hand and we carried the Beast over to the bench.  Using dummy loads of course we found that the MC-2300 would deliver more than 570 wpc at 1K (the only frequency we were testing) at 8 ohms.  1150 wpc at 4 ohms, 2670 into 2 ohms at which point the line voltage dropped below 90volts, so no further testing could be done.  That’s insane performance from an amplifier built in 1971, and way beyond its exceptionally low conservative power ratings.

 Phase Linear is often credited for offering the first ‘high power’ amplifier with the original Phase 700 which was rated at 350 wpc into 8 ohm.  Having owned many Phase Linear amps I can attest to their power, but I highly doubt it they would drive anything close to a .05 ohm load without imploding.

To me, the MC-2300 is McIntosh’s best sounding high powered amp.  This amp doesn’t have the famous McIntosh ‘Autoformer’, transformers which is why I think it sounds so good.  Also, if I am not mistaken the damping factor of this beast is about 13 which is really low for an amplifier of this power rating.  You can translate that into realizing the this was not only designed to be indestructible, it was designed to sound exceptionally good.  Conversely,  the damping factor of the Phase Linear 700 is 1000.  The low damping factor really plays a part in the Mac being so musical for a high powered amp.

At low volume you would think you’re listening to a MAC 1700 or something similar.  The amp has no negative characteristic that I can remember.  I remember it was musical, and coupled with the C-29 preamp it throws a huge sound stage.  At high volume, the sound is crystal clear, never any sign of weakness or lack of headroom. I didn’t dare open it up full gate, it would have set my speakers on fire, I am sure of that. I used one in my home system for more than a decade and never once had any issues.  The construction quality is unsurpassed in any amplifier I have owned. 

If I could choose between a Mac 2300, 2500 or 2600, the 2300 would be my choice.  NO ONE will ever need the power that this amp has on tap.

Yes, I have another audio story to tell. Remember the Apogee Scintilla ribbon speakers of the mid 80’s and 90’s?  Amazing sound, incredible, always which I could afford a pair.  These were famously difficult to drive, often having a Krell KSA 50 or 100 needed to bring them up to proper listening levels.  I have seen the Krells beg for mercy when high volume was asked for while driving these and I have heard stories how they mercilessly destroyed almost any amp subjected to their low 1.0 ohm impedance load.   

The Mac 2300 however,  will drive the Apogess without so much as a whimper, being rated to drive a .05 half ohm load all day long if asked to do so.

I really enjoyed my MC-2300.  I had seen one at a client home, it was black, all black.  I knew that there were a few produced this way, but had never actually seen one.  I also noticed that this one wasn’t 19” wide.  The owner mentioned that he removed the front plate, trimmed off the rack mounts and sanded the front then painted it in black lacquer.  That is exactly what I ended up doing.  I loved the look.

When I was in the middle of packing my home up during a house move, my wife asked if we could have some music. With all the Mac gear packed away I went to the basement and retrieved my Sansui 551, EPI 100’s and my Dual 1219.

I was thinking this is perfect for background music.  About 40 min later, we were sitting on the floor in front of the EPI’s listening.  My wife asked me “where have you been hiding this at”?  That’s when I discovered how good, a well voiced low powered amplifier can sound.  We played records all night long.  It was an eye opener for me and the end of my desire to have more power that any sane person could want.  I wanted to find the most musical system I could.  I wanted feel, touch, texture and tone.  That experience ended my McIntosh system, but I have no regrets in having owned Mac, or using the MC-2300.

I can find no fault with the McIntosh MC-2300.  It’s sounds beautiful, effortless power delivery, wide deep sound stage, and is massively over built.  Just a fine sounding, ultra powerful amplifier.  This is from what I call the ‘Old McIntosh”, and the design and construction are over the top.  If you can find one for less that $3000.00, buy it.  You will never regret it and the value is sure to increase. Today I see these listed between $4500 - 11,000 for clean examples. They are worth every penny.  More to come!