How many People own Working Reel to Reel Decks?

I run an Ampex AG-440 transport with 351 electronics.

I run two Sony 580's on a regular basis. No recording, just play original label pre-recorded tapes. Over the years I have built up a collection of about 500 tapes, some the famed Barclay & Crocker tapes. The latter are now going on e-bay for about $75 each. These B&C tapes were duplicated at 1 to 1 mastering, often from 60/30ips source, and also all have dolbyB, except some were done with dbx. B&C did business, sales and production out of the NYC financial district, which I visited once and was amazed at the passion these fellows had. Needless to say, sometimes the sound beats vinyl, other times it is a diaster, same quality issues vinyl always had. All payback is via tubes, pre and main. Tape has a lot of preservation issues, so current buys can be a crap shoot. One in every two I purchased is a throw away due to brittle and flaking of the tape or being too tightly pack on the reel. In summary, tape is part of the glory of the analogue days.

Great question Mark - I have a Nagra D that we have had for a few years and we are going to sell it, but just don't know what it will bring as there are fewer and fewer folks using reels now. That being said, those that use them, love them and know quite a bit about them.
They sell fairly often for good prices (for the buyer) on eBay, so congratulations on yours. Enjoy!

Dan