Nakamichi CR-1A Cassette Deck With New Belts

Nakamichi CR-1A recording from a Kenwood DP-M5560 CD player through a recapped (all analytic capacitors recapped) Sansui G-7700 with 32 hours burn in (so far). Tape used is a brand new (opened for this video) Maxell UR60
Replaced broken belts (not gooey, thankfully). Put fresh grease on gears and wear points. Cleaned and demagnetized heads. Didn't show all functions but everything works including auto repeat and timer. Even though it's only a 2 head deck the Nakamichi sounds great in person. iPhone videos don't do it justice.

[@Pradyumn1990]

I wil purchased this dack

[@directtothat]

Hi,it is hard to replace belts on this deck?
Thanks!

[@captainbillh]

Hi Paul. It’s not difficult. The counter belt is replaced from the front (where the cassette tape is played). To replace the main belts you remove the cover and only need to remove a few screws from the drive assembly. Many Nakamichi assemblies are similar so look on UA-cam for an example close to the CR-1A. Good luck!

[@garyives1218]

Those are literally amazing decks. They deserve way better than Maxell UR. Find some old stock XLII at least, or TDK SA. Your recording level was ridiculous. You were hanging around at +7db (LOL). A UR can handle +3db absolute max for short bursts. An XLII or TDK SA would do a good job handling regular +3db bursts and sound phenomenal on the high bias (type II) setting with Dolby C. Not trying to criticize. No normal person nowadays would know this stuff. I'm just a true audio nerd. You might be able to find some old DENON or BASF or FUJI high bias tapes that are really good too. Enjoy

[@captainbillh]

Thank you for your post. I don't profess to know anything about recording with cassette. I do have a bunch of new, sealed Maxell XL tapes and even some Sony chrome ones. I'll give those a try!