It's irritating how people just hop on with their favorite brands and refuse to give credit to others, etc. TEAC happens to be my favorite manufacturer of open reel machines, but that doesn't mean I automatically hate all the other brands just becuase "mine is the best". I like my Akai machines very much. I'd say the electronics are not of the same quality as my TEAC machines or my Technics machine, but the physical build quality is very good, very comparable.
I never said Akai was crap, I just said that they filled most of the market for low-end decent machines. They are good compared to a lot of the junky machines out there. I for one would almost always take an Akai over a Sony, except for those few Sony models that happen to be quite good. I'd take Akai over Ferrograph and Dokorder, and of course over any other manually operated machines. I really do think Akai had the best mechanically controlled machines on the market, but you really can't compare them to other companies' three motor soft touch machines. Akai's later machines seem to be pretty good, pretty comparable with the other residential machines.