I love this thread.
Its all about dreams. As a young boy I used to dream about high end audio - reading the magazines cover to cover, reading the specs, checking out the ads in the back that sold the equipment mail order. Now, with r2r I can afford afford a deck I could only dream about before. The great thing is that the newer technology is not better so much as more convenient or cheaper.
Obsolescence does mean a bit more work on decks that can be unreliable. But what makes it worth it is AudioKarma, and the people here. And as we look at Revox, Tandberg, and others, I think we are beginning to see more of the professional decks coming down to prices that should be considered by the 'novice', with the people here to help. I found an older modified Otari MX-5050 II2 from a studio for 300.00. We the help of others I was able to restore it and replace some components. Total cost of about 450.00. The sound of a 1/2 master at 15 ips is better than anything on any format I have heard before.
The point is that these 'Professional' machines seem to be coming down the food chain more and more. And with it opportunity. If we can keep the knowledge base going these machines are built to last decades. For those of us with many decks in our collection (11 in mine), it brings a new horizon of fidelity. I have a Revox, Akai, Sony, Pioneer, Tandberg. But nothing matches the Otari. I will concede there may be something out there better - most probably out of my pocket book range. What I can afford in cash may not change, but the technology I can afford does become better, again with the help of the experts.
There are a lot of aspects of 'fun' in this hobby - the audio, tinkering, restoring, aesthetics, etc. I do like the 'treasure hunt' aspect - looking for the machine that was once gold and could be made great, sitting on a curb or in a thrift or at a ridiculously low price on CL.
Greg