I don't think I could live without reel to reel. Most all decks made in the late 60's, 70 and 80 were well made machines. Teac, Akai, Sony, Revox, Technics, Crown, Otari, Pioneer, all these machines were well made. Akai used glass ferrite heads which seem to never wear out. My Sony TC-755 from 1974 is used daily, and show absoultely no sign of head wear from the ferrite and ferrite heads. I have had quite a few Teacs which I enjoyed and also a Revox B77 and A77. It is really hard to go wrong with any of these. The only machine I really didn't care much for was my Akai GX 625. It sounded fine, performed well but didn't seem to be as strong running as my Teac 3300s or my Sony TC-755. My Revox B77 required motor repairs when it was only five years old, but that was probably an exception. If you purchase one, try to get one from the original owner who knows the machines history. Also, keep in mind that Otari,Revox,Pioneer and Teac still support their old machines. Sony, Crown, Dokorder, Technics, Akai, etc do not.
