I have some important tapes I wanted to transfer so I went out looking for a nakamichi tape deck, and was fortunate enough to purchase a Nakamichi DR2 at a decent price on ebay.

Now that I have one (unfortunately without a manual) I want to transfer my tapes. I have read about azimuth adjustment on these tape decks and how they make a huge difference in the sound.

Can anyone help me on how to do this properly and any tips/advice?

Thank you

This might help you:
http://siber-sonic.com/broadcast/azimuth_by_ear.html

But the special feature about Nakamichi decks is that they can adjust the azimuth by themselves, if I'm not mistaken.

Not all of them, IIRC, only the very high end ones...

Edit: you my be interested in this site (www.naks.com). It treats (not thorougly, thus) all vintage Nakamichi tape decks.

Nak decks were different to most others. Aside from usually excellent build quality (excepting the cheapest models which were worse than average), they also used special heads with subtly different gaps to "normal" heads. This means that tapes recorded on Naks need to be played back on Naks to get the very best sound. It also means that Naks are not ideal for replaying stuff recorded on other decks.

Only the most expensive, late run Nak models had auto-azimuth. I don't think the DR2 was one of them.

Innacurate azimuth can make a very large difference to treble response and channel balance (tens of dbs...) so you are right to be thinking about it, but I'm not sure a Nak was a good purchase. I run two decks for my A/D conversions. A completely standard late-run Sony that I use for commercially produced tapes, and more relevent here, a better Aiwa which I recalibrate by hand for each tape I play. I do this by listening to playback with good headphones and adjusting the azimuth screw until the sound is best. On this machine I also adjust the speed as needed using a set of reference tapes made over the years.

The tapes have been transfered onto CD already with great results, and I bought the nakamichi thinking I could improve the sound quality even more. I think that this model comes with some sort of azimuth adjustment but it might not be automatic (as I originally thought). I will see when it comes in the mail today

Do you still think I made a foolish purchase? I plan on trying to get the azimuth adjustment done right...

Any help/advice appreciated again.

A well functioning Nak is never a foolish purchase
I am sure its good mechanics will give you a stable replay. A bit of careful re-alignment of the heads to suit the tapes you have (rather than leaving it at lab standard) should give excellent results. My comment on the gap in the heads (I think it was only the recording head that was odd) is only a small problem - and not a problem at all if it was only the recording head.
Best of luck!