Console?!?!?!!??!

I have previously said several times that I would never switch from emulator to PS2 for FDS. That stubborn idea might change.
I'm not looking into buying one as soon as possible. It might be 1 year until I decide to get one, 2 years, 6 months, etc.
Why the wait? Here's the plan:
For Crash 1, emulator loses ~2:20 in any% and ~2:40-2:50 in 100% compared to the loading times of PS2 FDS (big thanks to Kojiro for the calculations). At the moment, it is possible for me to achieve 3rd place in any% (edit: got it :D) and 2nd place in 100% (edit: got it :D) with these disadvantages. Once there is a point where emulator simply can't "keep up" on the leaderboards, I will look into getting a >70k PS2 for the fast loads. What does "keep up" mean? I don't know. We'll have to see. I guess it's the point where I can't reliably stay in like the top 5/6/7 area on the boards.

My Crash 1 times on emu are as follows. The time in the brackets on the right is what it would be around with PS2 FDS.

P.S my emulator is ePSXe v2.0.0. If a newer emulator is released with faster loads (even 1 frame faster per load), I will not switch to it. I will meet these goals with my current emulator.

crash 1 has been my main speedgame since I started speedrunning. Since then, I have taken the appropriate breaks needed to not get sick of the game. I still enjoy it, and it is still probably in my top 3 favourite video games of all time. This is why I said "once there is a point where emu can't keep up" above, not if.
A PS2 would not only be used to run crash 1. I would also start doing crash 3 runs on it, and Crash 2 if I can get it to play PAL (fuck ntsc). Crash 3 TTs are also a thing, which I have a number of good times on emu that I have never been allowed to submit anywhere because the boards hate emu (some levels are pal and some are ntsc).

One thing is, I need to educate myself on this console region/modding shit. And I need help figuring out the easiest way to access these regions with a PS2, and if my TV can even handle the shit. I've heard about chips, discs, just buying a separate console, etc. Is it possible buy a pre-modded console? I need to figure out what is best. I really don't want to have to do anything like taking apart the console and shit like that. That's not my thing.
For my whole life, it has been either plug and the play with the console or going to emuparadise to get shit easily. :P

P.S. Crash 1 1000% when?