I went R2R first as a result of working radio from 1973 - 1978. Had to have something with 10" reels and that something at the time was a Pioneer RT-1011, the least expensive of that line. After all, I was making $80/week plus all the records I could eat and had to fund an MGB daily driver. That Pioneer was stolen (probably by the movers) when we moved down to work in Alabama, which led to my first cassette deck, a low - mid range Pioneer. Can't recall which one but it had piano key controls, not relays/solenoids, so not overly expensive. When TVA moved me back to Chattanooga, a friend in Decatur bought my entire system, which led to a new system with a Nakamichi BX-1. Excellent deck, better than the rest of the system. After that, I acquired a Tascam 133 for the A/V production business but dropped cassette and went back to reels (or no tape at all) from the mid-90s to 2017, when I got this deck.