Is there an 'Audiophile' Reel-to-Reel Machine for Under $1,000?

You can find good quality Pioneer, Sony, Akai and Teac decks for under $1,000 on CL.  Plan on spending an equal amount getting them refurbished.  It's not as expensive as some of the above replies state.

Yeah, you could get a good sounding deck for $1k but it may not be good enough. That's the main reason why I don't have reel-to-reel. I saw Otari MX-5050BII-2 both on ebay and on reverb for close to $3k in seemingly good or better condition. That's where I would start. Studer 810/807 is two/three times more.

I will also mention Technics.

The speed / format ( track ) question as mentioned only once above is KEY…

The venerable Revox A-77 was good enough for The Band and Bob Dylan… 

I have had Teac, akai, Revox, pioneer. Currently have Akai and revox.

look for the smaller Akais.  they sound very good, revox sounds very good, so does pioneer, heard Sony is nice, Teacs to me sound mediocre, well built but to my ears Akai and Revox sound much better, Revox will be more $$ too.