Nakamichi

DRAGON
Auto Reverse Cassette Deck
The Nakamichi DRAGON, 3 World-First Innovations
For Unprecedent:ed Reproduction Precision
To use an automot~veanaloqy, the DRAGON 1s the world's The DRAGON uses two of these superb motors--one lor the usual fast-wind speed in both forward and reverse
fastest raclng mach~ne w~thatop-perlorrnance turbocharger each capstan. The tape in the cr~ticalhead area is isolated directions.
The turbocharger corresponds to the DRAGON'S from vibrat~onand tension irregular~t~esoccurlng in the 8. Dolby B-C Type noise reduct~on.
revolutionaryautomatic playback azimuth correction cassette, and tape travel is handled with the utmost 9. Sw~tchableMPX filter.
system-NAAC (NakamtchlAuto Azimuth Correction). And precision. The capstans have even been designed with 10. Sw~tchablesubsonlc filter.
the engine IS a dual-capstan transport w~thboth capstans dlfferfngdiameters so resonance that can add to flutter is 11. Wide range 4 0 d B to t- lOdB peak level meters.
dtrectly driven via independent Super Linear Torque DD cancelled. 12. 2-speed auto-fader function.
Motorsforkansport stab~lltyand prectsionthat s~mplycannot This unique system has actually made it poss~bleto reach
be Improvedupon with present-day technology. This is also the phys~callimits of wowlfluner reduction. The Importance Of Azimuth
the first system of its type to offer auto reverse operation The narrower the gap of a playback head can be made.
w~tha Discrete Three Head reproduction systern. Naturally Manual Bias and Level Calibration Makes it the higher its reproduceable frequency I~mit.However, even
th~sunlque combination of revolutionary features completely Possible to Get 100% Performancefrom Built-In the sl~ghtestdev~at~on from perfect 9 0 gap alignment in
ellmlnates the conventional weak points of auto-reverse Dolby C Type NR relat~onto the tape broadens the effective width of the gap
transports-especially the difference in reproductionquality Dolby C-Type NR IS a very precise noise reduction system cons~derablv,as shown In the lllustrat~onbelow, and
in the forward and reverse directions. The DRAGON also capable of extremely high performance. Unless reproduction therefore degrades high-frequency reproductlon capabtlity.
provides for manual calibration of the lefi and right channel cond~tionsare Ideal, however. the superb nolse reduct~on Sl~ght,unavo~dabledeformat~onof cassette shells makes a
b~asand recordlplayback for optlmum matching w~thany capabtl~tiesof thts system w~llnot be reallzed. The broad sfngle "ideal" az~muthsett~ngunfeastble, so the only
type of tape, and offers the very finest Nakamichi sound var~at~ons In the characteristics of different tapes must allernatwe IS to match the playback head alignment to
technology throughout. therefore be prec~selyadjusted for In order to achieve the tape.
The Nakam~chtDRAGON is without a doubt a new standard optlmLm reproductlon conaltlons. For th~spurpose.
in top-performance cassette reproduction. tne DRAGON has manual cal nratlon controls lor lefi and
r~ghtchannel b~aslevel as well as for left and rtght channel
Fully Automatic Playback Azimuth recordlplayback level Moreover, these controls are prov~ded
Alignment-the NAAC System-Means ~ndependentlyfor each tape selector poslt~onOnce you
the Best Possible Playback Performance hear the aston~sh~ng dtfference proper cal~brat~on makes.
with AnyTape you II never record uncal~brated agaln
Tape head az~muthal~gnmentIS an extrernely Important Remded Track
factor In ach~ev~nq the best poss~blereproduct~onaualltv Effective gap width is
For th~sreason thk utmost care taken n e n s u ng aos6lute S~gnlflcanllybroadened
az muth al~qnmentIn all Nakam~ch~ decks Tne DRAGOh by azimuth mlsallgnment.
with its NAAC system, however, is the finest so far.
No matter what tape you play, you get the best possible The DRAGON does this continuously during playback.
reproductionfrequency response. Tapes borrowed lrom a using the recorded music signal to actually measure and
fr~end,commercially available music tapes, or even tapes compensate for any azirnuth misaligment. For the first tirne.
wtth slightly "warped" housings can all be reproduced with reproduction quality is alway ideal.
the very finest performance the tapes themselves are
capable of providing. Specif~calions
Track Conltgurat~on. .... ....4 lracksi2-channelstereo (playback
auloreverse)
The World's First Discrete Three Head Auto- Heads . .. .. . 3 (erasehead /I,record head x 1.
Reverse System with Identical Performance 4-track. 4-channelplaybackhead- I)
in Both Directions--Thanks to NAAC Motors . .. . . TRANSPORT
Ouarlz PLL DC. brushless. slotless.
All other auto-reverse cassette decks suffer lrom a problem: coreless Super Llnear Torque D D
sound qualtty In one direct~on1s generally much worse than molor (capstandrlve 2)
A

in the other direction due to d~ffertngazlmuth alignment. DC motor (reeldr~vex 1)

The NAAC system, however, completely ellminates this s AUTO AZIMUTH CORREeJlON
problem so you get the full performance benefits of DC motor 1 -\
Nakamichi's unmatched Discrete Three Head reproduction MECHANISM
DC molor x 1
system in both d~rect~ons. Power Sotirce . . 100,120.120,Q20-240.220or240V
AC. 50160Hz (Accordingto country
Dual Direct Drive Capstans-Performance Frequency Response/No~se
Analysls 01 sale)
that Defines the Limit of Present-Day Technology Deck ORAGON/Tape ZXtMetall/PS Eq. ' 70"s
Power Consumpt~on........ .. 45 W ma%.
Taoe Soeed . . . . . . . . 1-71810s14 8 cmlsec I
The key to the "super-tun~ng"that has made the Nakamtch~ wow-and-~tuller .. ........ .. ~essthan'o019%~ ~ D R M S
ZX-9 even more popular than the best-sell~ngZX-7 IS the Less than0 04%WTD Peak
Nakam~chtSuper Llnear Torque Dtrect Drtve Motor Auto Rec Pause Adds Convenience to Frequency Response .... .....20Hz 22,OOOHz 1 3dB (recordlnglevel
Th~stop-performance motor effecttvely el~m~natesflutter Superb Sound -2CdB. ZX tape)
that can modulate the muslc fundamentals and thereby W~ththe Auto Rec Pause swttch on during recording. 20Hz 21,000Hz 1 3dB (recordlnglevel
the transport w~llautomatically stop and enter the Rec Pause 20dB. SX, EX II lape)
degrade sound qual~ty Siqnal-lo-NoiseRatio .. ... ..DolbyC-Type NRon .-70~s. ZXtape,.
mode any tirne a break of more than 10 seconds is detected Betlerthan72dB 1400Hz 3% THD.
in the program being recorded. IHFA-WTD R M S ~
DO camtan mala OD capstan mota
Other Features Dolby B-TypeNRon.'70ps. W tape-
I Tam md Pad llfiw I Capstan
1. Extremely sharp focusing of record head flux permits Better lhan66dB(400Hz.3%THD.
IHF A-WD RMS)
preclse reproductlon over an exceptionally broad Total Hamlontc Dlslorllon . . Less lhan 0 806 (4M)Hz.OdB. ZXtape)
frequency range. Lessthan 1 ?,, (400Hz.OdB.SX, EXII
2. Narrow-gap playback head delivers playback frequency tape)
response to 22kHz, t3dB. Erasure . .. .. . . . .. ... BetlerlhanGOdB( 1WHz. OdB)
3. H~gh-efficiencydouble-gap erase head ensures clean Separation . . . .. ... ..... . Bener than 37dB (1kHz,OdB)
. . . . .. . . ..Benerthan6WB(1 kHz.OdB)
erasure wlth absolutely no moodlat~onof the aud~os~gnal Crosstalk
Blas Frequency . .. .. ... ... ... 105kHz
during record or playback. In~utfL1ne1... .. . . .... . .OmV.5OkO
4. All ampl~f~er circuitry Including record and playback Oblpul (L~ne). . ... . . ....... .... 1V (400Hz.WB,oulput levelcontrol
equalizers are double NF des~gnachievtng a state-of-the- at rnax.)2.2k!l
art 0.005% distorllon figure for absolute reproduction (Headphones) . . . .. . 45mW (400Hz.DdB. outpullevelcontrol
purity. A total of SIX playback equal~zersare prov~ded: at max ) 8 , ~
BlackBoxSeriesDCOulpul + 10V 125mA max
two for forward playback, two for reverse playback and D~rnens~ons 450(W)y 135(H)u3M)(D)rnm
two lor the NAAC system. 17 3/4(W)r55 16(H)11 13116(D)1nches
5. V~bration-absorbingmechanism featuring resin-coated Welght Appr 9 5kg 21 1b

-
aluminum construction effect~velydamps out mechan~cal
v~brat~on that can adversly affect sound quality. Speclllcat~onsand appearancedesign are sublect lo change lor further
6. Real-time motor-dr~vemechanism control system Improvement w~thoutnotlce
---) Faward d8recllan *Dolby NR under ltcense from Dolby Laboralorles L~cens~ng
Reverse d#recI#m incorporates a microprocessor for sure, silent transport Corporation
Auto-Reverse Dual Capstan operation. The word "DOLBY"and Ihe Double-D-Symbolare trademarks of Dolby
Double Dlrect Drive System Construct~on 7. Easy cueing feature permits'aural cueing at 113 or 116 Laboratories Llcenslng Corporat~on

Nakamichi Corporation Shinjuku Dalfch~Sefrnei Bldg.. 2-74 Nishishiniuku, Shiniuku-ku, Tokyo

Tokyo Office Phone : (03)342-4461 Telex. 2324721 (NAKAMJ)
Nakamichi U.S.A. Corporation tlDl Colorado Avenue, Santa Monlca. Cal~fornia 90401 Phone (213)451-5901
New York Offlce . 220 Westbury Avenue, Carle Place, N.Y. 11514 Phone (516)333-5440
Prlnled I" Japan 5-82 11650A