Not knocking them, they were popular back in the day, but I could never get into REO Speedwagon. My neighbour tried to turn me onto them but failure was his lot.
Reel to reels have always been too bulky for wherever I've been.
And what's wrong with cassette ?
And I certainly don't fancy eating.....heck, whatever !
On a serious note though thegurmatthart, try going through the manual step by step, but do the stuff as you're reading it. I've found that helps. It's easy to get confused or overwhelmed by some of the stuff in recording.
Cheer up.