Professional versions of the 1000 (DAT) and the 1000p also existed with rack side attachements and special i/o plug-in boards ; a stamped "PRO" was added to the cartons.
The 1000 sports all functions of DAT recorders plus a couple that are less common : selectable auto-ID level (-40dB or -60dB) and auto-END rewind ; the 1000 isn't transparent to the Copy Prohibit flag, though.

The 1000r IR remote duplicates all front controls and can select two destinations : DAT1 and DAT2 - for the Rockefeller-like rich ;-) The 1000mb/i also duplicates all the controls of the 1000mb.
The 1000 cost 650,000¥, the 1000p and 1000mb 550,000¥ each - a full rig would cost 1,750,000¥, but very happy dealers probably often cut some rebates.

Maintenance, however, remains a mystery as Nakamichi went under a long time ago and the vast majority of spare parts were junked by the new owners...

I still haven't found any of the magnificent USA or Japan catalogs so, until I do, this is it : basic german 1991 images and descriptions.

Nakamichi 1000
Nakamichi 1000p
Nakamichi 1000mb
(1988 - 1995)

Part of Nakamichi's last stand into high-fidelity - with some tape in it. At a time the company was on the verge of going under with the poor sales of its recent lineups, Etsuro Nakamichi stood up and decided to offer the best and up to date there could be, in mechanics as well as in design. If the former quality was a brand's habit, the second was a novelty : out went the unimaginative black and texture layouts, in came aluminium silver and obviously designed designs. And if these didn't sell as well as expected, they still stand tall among the few well designed units of the late 1980s and 1990s. But inside is even more interesting, though.

Not cassette tape but D.A.T. and a full in-house development at that : unlike Studer which relied on Panasonic's RAA1001 mechanism, Etsuro Nakamichi built its own DAT deck from scratch. However, if the DAT drive is the most remembered, this ultimate 1000 system also held a CD drive (in MusicBank style) and an external digital to analogue converter. In other words, a full digital rig.

The 1000 transport is dubbed F.A.S.T. for Fast Access Stationary Tape Guide Transport - somewhat different from the usual mini-VCR mechanisms used in all other DAT recorders since 1986. Actually, it isn't that differerent from Sony's original drive system (DTC-1000ES, PCM-2500) but the tape guides and capstans are set within static guide rails instead of running "free" above the base. These guides provide horizontal & vertical adjustments for precise tape/head contact. This simplified (patented) system also loads and unloads tapes much faster : less than 2 seconds instead of 4 to 6 seconds ! Fast-winding/rewinding goes up to 400x (like the RAA1001) and the 1000 DAT is naturally equipped with four heads. Almost never shown, a little cache could be adapted to hide the head block from the front.
In true audiophile fashion, the 1000 DAT came stock with only a coaxial/TOS optical digital i/o board (IF-101) but two more could be implemented at the back ; the 1000 has no analogue-to-digital circuitry inside as all signals are meant to first pass through the 1000p processor.

The 1000p is an a>d & d>a converter with 20bit resolution and four 16bit chips. The first d/a chip works on the lower 14bits, the seconds handles the remaining top 6bits ; an attached ROM memory for fast calibration keeps everybody in good order. As for the 1000 transport, everything is built with plug-in modules a huge power-supply section with two toroidal transformers, all-copper-plated chassis, all steel and aluminium - big Nakamichis !

The 1000MB is a CD drive with a complex changer system that holds up to 7 CDs. Also included are special vibration damping and air movements control to keep the head block from being negatively influenced by either nasties. As the 1000 recorder, no analogue output is present, even if a dedicated board can be installed on top of the IF-101mb coaxial/TOS optical output board. A special crystal-polymer large puck clamps the CD to the spindle.