Cassette tape duplication

We have a goodly number of cassette tapes in our archives (oral
histories, meetings, etc.) and are looking into the purchase of a
machine for in-house cassette tape duplication, both for
preservation purposes and the production of use copies.  I have read
the books which recommend that we transfer everything worth keeping
to reel-to-reel tape, but it doesn't look like that's a realistic
option here.  My specific questions are for those who do work/have
worked with archival re-recording schemes:

    What machines did you choose to use?  (Brand, model, mono or
    stereo, etc.)

    Have you been happy with them?

    What guidelines do you use for tape duplication?

    Anything else you can share before we dive headlong into this?

I really did try to find something along these lines in the written
literature, but I think I'm looking for something a bit too
specific. Any constructive comments will be most welcome.

    **** Moderator's comments:   Please reply directly to the
    author, who has offered to post a summary of responses.

Michele Wellck
Assistant Archivist
Univ. of Alaska Anchorage

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 9:57
                Distributed: Wednesday, January 31, 1996
                        Message Id: cdl-9-57-021
                                  ***