the $20 BX-300

[JXBJXB]

Craigslist ad locally. "BX-300, works, needs new tire. $20".

OK. $20 for a BX-300? I don't think I can pass that up. Would be a nice comparison to my MR-1.

So I drive out to see the deck and sure enough, exactly as described. Faceplate has a dinged corner and top of cabinet pretty scratched, but the tape well looks clean. Idler making a strange "thwumping" sound. But again, $20. I took it home.

Removing the backplate to check out the idler I notice that a) the tire is not sitting properly on the idler (hence the thwump) and b) the retaining clip is missing, and the idler is held on by a paper-thin square of plastic with a hole punched in it.

I reseated the tire (it was fine) and will need to order a retainer clip, but for now the little plastic piece works OK. All the belts look fine, the logic mechanism operates properly, and the sound is clean, clear, balanced. I'll check it out further with my set of cal tapes over the next few days...and assuming it continues to run well, I'll put my much-nicer-cosmetically MR-1 up on the block (I don't need two very similar decks, and I'd rather have the bias tune feature of the BX-300, although the better meters of the MR-1 are really nice to have...)

[VintageSteve]

Well, I certainly think $20 and a little tinkering is a small price to pay for a BX-300... *wink*

[westgate]

Craigslist ad locally. "BX-300, works, needs new tire. $20".

OK. $20 for a BX-300? I don't think I can pass that up. Would be a nice comparison to my MR-1.

ya got me beat. last july, i had to pay the exhorbitant amount of $31 for my bx-300.
then i had to 'kick start' the reel motor with a squirt of deoxit. took me all of 5 minutes and it's still running like a charm and it's my 'daily driver'.

$20! what's the world coming too... *fit*

[JXBJXB]

$20! what's the world coming to... *fit*

That's the scary thing. I guess sometimes people just want to get rid of stuff. This guy certainly was a hi-fi hobbyist so he knew that the Nak had some value. Perhaps he couldn't be bothered.

I listened to the deck for about two hours last night - mix of stuff I had made on my MR-1 and some pre-recorded classical. Sounds really nice - just as good as my MR-1 finally ended up sounding (it needed calibration) BUT in a smaller package. I now see what the big deal is all about.

[Naknut]

Great score! I've never found a Nakamichi of that prestige at any of my usual haunt in all my looking, and I'm talking 10 years or more.

[Fast Forward]

ya got me beat. last july, i had to pay the exhorbitant amount of $31 for my bx-300.
then i had to 'kick start' the reel motor with a squirt of deoxit. took me all of 5 minutes and it's still running like a charm and it's my 'daily driver'.

$20! what's the world coming too... *fit*I think I still hold the record for money actually paid for a BX 300...$5.00,needed a belt and roller

[westgate]

I think I still hold the record for money actually paid for a BX 300...$5.00,needed a belt and roller

oh, the pain, the pain...(think dr. smith)

edit-i got mine off of ebay. nak ebay prices seem to have been steadily rising in the last eighteen months or so. it's becoming more difficult to find mr-1/bx-300 bargains anymore. even the 'fixer-uppers' are getting more expensive.

[VintageSteve]

Can't take the record for actual money paid for my BX-300 since a friend gave it to me. It has some cosmetic issues: a ding in the cassette door, a little melted candle wax here and there.. It's in my "clean up and tune" stack for when I'm back from our trip south. Looking forward to A/B tests with my Sony 909ES. *reelspin* I like my Sonys but am very open to more keepers in my kit! *check*