Just about any cassette machine that's 15-20 years old will require a little bit of service - the rubber parts simply dry up with age. So the simplicity of a machine counts for quite a bit when it comes to its performance these days . . . the number of technicians who can sucessfully swap a capstan belt and pinch roller are far greater than those who can make a Dragon work to its potential, and chances are that a good used deck will require service, or has been serviced already.
For reliability . . . Tandbergs and earlier Naks are pretty bad. When Nak switched to gear-drive hubs rather than idler-drive, reliability jumped up to a huge degree, and this was in the mid-to-late '80s, about halfway through the "CR-" series. There are some "BX-" series decks out there that have also had gear-drive idlers that were added later, making these excellent.
Most of the generic Japanese decks (Yamaha, Sony, etc.) are variable . . . some have decent mechanisms with really crappy electronics (no separate internal adjustments for each tape type). Pioneer was always complex, idiosyncratic, and kind of unreliable IMO.
I'd recommend a mid-1980s or later Nakamichi two-head deck, like a CR-1A, CR-2A, BX-100, BX-150, etc. Also B&O decks from the same era . . . they used simple, easily serviced Japanese mechanisms combined with excellent electronics. Just quirky operation and connectors, but even their ALC is good. Any of these can sound great, bought cheap, and can be easily serviced by an average electronics technician.
For reliability . . . Tandbergs and earlier Naks are pretty bad. When Nak switched to gear-drive hubs rather than idler-drive, reliability jumped up to a huge degree, and this was in the mid-to-late '80s, about halfway through the "CR-" series. There are some "BX-" series decks out there that have also had gear-drive idlers that were added later, making these excellent.
Most of the generic Japanese decks (Yamaha, Sony, etc.) are variable . . . some have decent mechanisms with really crappy electronics (no separate internal adjustments for each tape type). Pioneer was always complex, idiosyncratic, and kind of unreliable IMO.
I'd recommend a mid-1980s or later Nakamichi two-head deck, like a CR-1A, CR-2A, BX-100, BX-150, etc. Also B&O decks from the same era . . . they used simple, easily serviced Japanese mechanisms combined with excellent electronics. Just quirky operation and connectors, but even their ALC is good. Any of these can sound great, bought cheap, and can be easily serviced by an average electronics technician.