Nakamichi CD-45Z Car CD Player

1/29/03: Well, Nakamichi (officially NakUSA) is back in business with new ownership after the sad episode with bankruptcy. Actually, this supposedly happened in September of 2002, but I refrained from removing the bankruptcy warning from this review until now, when I finally had tangible proof that they actually had something to offer to the consumer. In my case, that proof manifested itself in the return of my MB-70 in-dash changer (reviewed and documented elsewhere here on epinions) from dead audio hell.

Now that product is again in stores, and their in-house service department is working on equipment again it's probably safe to say they alive and kicking for the time being. How long they survive, though, will depend on how good the new company is in getting relevant product to market, and improving the spotty operational quality of some of their future models over such unfortunate examples as the MB-70.

First, last and always: I like this CD deck. I like it A LOT. If you were to stop reading right now, you will have gotten the the gist of the gushing that follows. Both of our current cars have the CD-45z; my car has the added plus of a Nakamichi MB-70 in-dash 6-disc changer. I have a MB2 CD changer still hooked into the home stereo. I've still have Nakamichi home tape decks: a Dragon, CR-7a, and a BX-300, albeit all but the CR-7a are now in storage (but due these things called 'fond memories', I can't bring myself to list them on eBay or do some sort of similarly nonsensical act). I still have my legendary TD-700 car tape deck sitting on a shelf before me; it hasn't seen service in years since I pulled it from its installation a couple of cars ago, but I keep telling myself I'm gonna find a use for it...that tape section is TOO GOOD to get rid of. I guess I'm a confirmed Nakamichi addict, and I beam with pride as I thump my chest saying so.

Now that this unabashed, unbiased ;) preface regarding this reviewer is out of the way, I can get straight to the CD-45z itself: simply stated, this is a music lover's machine. Its price is all over the place on the internet, but even at its $500 list, it's well worth the money. It's no 1-bit unit here; the 20-bit DACs are most appreciated. The styling of the unit is simple and clean. It has a REAL VOLUME KNOB (though it's used for other functions as well). Its buttons are larger than those of many of the current competition models. Its interface with the MB-70 changer is seemless. And the ease of use is oh, so intuitive. Then, of course, there's that high quality music reproduction.

Features are perhaps not its strong point, especially for the gadget-minded consumer. It has plenty of station presets (12 AM, 18 FM), faceplate choice of an amber or green backlight (amber is best, IMO, but tougher to find), a clock, a mute control, the usual CD functions (random play, etc.), the usual tone (bass/mid/treble), balance and fader controls...but that's about it for the frills (at least those are the ones I've bothered to play with in the past). It's more in keeping with trying to appease the purist audiophiles than the bells-and-whistles junkies, which is perfectly fine to me. Set the tone controls to flat and turn the thing ON, already!

However, it's not to say that this machine is without fault, however few they may be. My biggest dislike is with the positioning of the source selection/on-off button directly above the volume knob, where occasionally when reaching to adjust the volume level I'll inadvertently hit the selector and then find myself listening to the changer when I really wanted the radio, for example. I also dislike the clock adjustment; I hate reading manuals, but the only way I can get the time right was to whip the book out. And since I don't set it all that often (so I almost immediately forget how to set the thing once done), getting to owner's manual out is something that I need to do whenever the car has its battery disconnected, which happens from time to time during visits to the mechanic. Grrr...not intuitive here.

Other gripes were with the first unit I tried in my car; that unit's detachable faceplate could put scratches in a CD if the disc wasn't fed into the CD-45z at a particular angle. After that piece was replaced (it developed a terminal tracking problem--i.e., it skipped worse than a kid in a truant officer's most reviled nightmare), the second unit has not recreated that problem. Nor has it shown up in my wife's car, either.

One other problem that others might find more of an issue than I is the 45z's weakness in maintaining a decent FM signal. Signal drift is much more apparent in both of our cars than with the original factory tape decks. This was the case with all three of the various 45zs we have or have gone through. I don't listen to FM radio that much in the car, but the fluctuations in signal strength certainly don't compel me to want to listen any more than I already do. Since FM isn't a big deal for me, I tend to overlook this flaw. And now that my wife listens to CDs more than radio, even she no longer comments about it as well.

The last flaw I've encountered is that the black clamshell of a plastic case for the detachable faceplate is prone to warping if left exposed to the sun. In fact when I did exactly that to it, the case warped so much so that the thing ceased to latch at all. Only after spending some time 'sunning' it under a halogen desk lamp was I able to rebend the two halves back into some resemblance of alignment.

(ADDED: Other flaws that I'd forgotten about is the lack of sub level control, which as it turned out became a non-issue after I re-chipped my Xtant sub amp to better balance the low-bass against the information emitted from the rest of the speakers. But prior to doing this, the lack of level adjustment made it tough to get the low-bass to sound right. Another irritant that I've gotten used to is the shiny black plastic finish of the faceplate; even though the color matches the dash/center console of both our cars, the finish DOESN'T match the matte black finish of the MB-70 changer in my car (which is mounted directly below the 45z). Considering that both are Nakamichi products, designed to operate with one another, I would've thought making them LOOK more similar would've been high on the product planner's TO DO list.)

Performance: just from living with them in our cars, it's still a tough thing for me to really quantify, considering that in a mobile setting it's not all that easy to do a swap of components to make direct comparisons. When I built the system in my car, I did a total redo so for me to flower you with phrases like 'more transparent' or 'colors the tonality of the music less' is hard, because I don't truly have a comparison reference to really be sure of such a claim, at least for my car's environment. Plus, how much of this is the doing of the deck as opposed to the Nak amplifier or the a/d/s speakers? Where I could make a direct comparison was in the Nakamichi showroom, where I could compare side-to-side with other makes. Smoother...deeper imaging...more fluid across all frequencies...these are the things I remember. Vocals sound more life-like, pianos sound like pianos, that sort of thing. A really, REALLY good sort of thing. And suffice to say that the system in my car as a whole sounds pretty darn good, and I have to believe that the 45z plays a big part in achieving that. As for my wife's car, the unit certainly sounds better than what was there before, but it still needs an amplifier that she won't let me put in...

With the 45z, I've had none of the read or tracking problems with CD-Rs as others here on epinions and on other review sites have reported (at least w/ CD-Rs that DON'T give me problems on other types of players as well--sometimes my CD-RW has its bad days, too). Despite my first 45z's skip problem, the replacement unit has proven to rarely skip; it takes one monster of a road hiccup to get it to do so. As you may have already guessed, I do recommend using a separate amp with the 45z, as I would with any in-dash player; the amplifier circuitry supplied with the typical in-dash unit is nowhere close to satisfactory for properly driving a set (or two) of speakers. My wife didn't want the intrusion of a separate amp in her car, so I get to hear the 45z both ways; my way is FAR better (ok, so it was FAR MORE EXPENSIVE, too, but who needs to look at THAT???).

And as for pricing...the unit I bought direct from my local authorized Nak dealer cost $450. The unit I put in my wife's car I bought new from eBay (sold by a local guy and ironically came from THE SAME brick & mortar dealer I bought my car's unit(s) from) went for $300. Thank God for insurees who, despite the insurance settlement, go out and buy a new car with a killer factory system instead of fixing the busted-up heap. I admit I took a chance on this unit because of the problems I had with my first 45z (see, warranties do come in handy). Even though I bought the second car's 45z off eBay and it still had the warranty card in place, I'm certain I'd run into a hassle if there had been any problem with it, just because of the transfer of ownership and the fact that the local Nak dealer registers the serial numbers with the purchaser's name in their database. Luckily, it's given great service for more than a year.

This is one piece of electronics I heartily give a thumbs up to. Heck, I've done it twice already.