Good points above. I have a Teac X1000R (3.75 and 7.5 ips 4 track) and a modest collection of 70's prerecorded tapes. The 7.5 ips tapes sound very good. The sound has a special quality and playing the tape is fun to do. It is the polar opposite of streaming. I don't think I'll ever have a 15 ips deck but I've heard them at a couple audio shows and the sound of these new tapes is certainly impressive.
There is a page on The Tape Project site that talks about suitable decks. Regarding the specific Revox deck you mention you might have to buy a vintage unit and have it refurbished by a competent tech. There should be a repair facility in most large cities that specializes in recording equipment (mixing desks, tape decks, guitar amps, etc.) that could do the refurb. In Seattle there's a place called Condor Electronics that I can personally vouch for. If you can locate such a repair facility they might be a good resource on finding your particular deck or at least they could tell you how much it would cost to completely refurbish one.
Regarding the B77 Mk II there are a couple on ebay now. A vintage model that needs work is listed at $1199 and a fully refurbished deck from Switzerland is listed at $4951. Those two decks probably represent a pretty good bracket for what you will have to pay.
There is a page on The Tape Project site that talks about suitable decks. Regarding the specific Revox deck you mention you might have to buy a vintage unit and have it refurbished by a competent tech. There should be a repair facility in most large cities that specializes in recording equipment (mixing desks, tape decks, guitar amps, etc.) that could do the refurb. In Seattle there's a place called Condor Electronics that I can personally vouch for. If you can locate such a repair facility they might be a good resource on finding your particular deck or at least they could tell you how much it would cost to completely refurbish one.
Regarding the B77 Mk II there are a couple on ebay now. A vintage model that needs work is listed at $1199 and a fully refurbished deck from Switzerland is listed at $4951. Those two decks probably represent a pretty good bracket for what you will have to pay.