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Vintage Tape (Audio), Cassette, Wire and Magnetic Disc Recorders and Players Open-reel tape recorders, cassette recorders, 8-track players etc.

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Old 19th Nov 2020, 10:00 pm   #1
DMcMahon
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Default Tefifon

While online browsing I found a Tefifon for sale. Had never previously heard of this format. Basic description copied below.

The Tefifon is an audio playback format, developed and manufactured in Germany, that utilizes cartridges loaded with an endlessly looped reel of plastic tape.

It is somewhat similar to the later 4-track and 8-track magnetic audio tape cartridges, but with grooves embossed on the tape, like a phonograph record. The grooves were embossed in a helical fashion across the width of the tape, in a manner similar to Dictaphone's Dictabelt format. The grooves are read with a stylus and amplified pickup in the player's transport.

A Tefifon cartridge, known as a "Tefi", can hold up to four hours of music; therefore, most releases for the format are usually compilations of popular hits or dance music, operas and operettas.

Tefifon players were not sold by television and radio dealers in Germany, but rather sold directly by special sales outlets affiliated with Tefi (the manufacturer of the format).
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Old 19th Nov 2020, 10:05 pm   #2
NottsIan
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Default Re: Tefifon

I saw one of these in Germany about 25 years ago. There was a wired remote with it which allowed moving between grooves. The 'tape' was a lot thicker than a magnetic tape. A very sophisticated thing for the 50's.
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Old 20th Nov 2020, 8:58 am   #3
Arthur2075
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Default Re: Tefifon

Quite a few videos on YouTube. Seems to be very under rated format.
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Old 20th Nov 2020, 12:23 pm   #4
DMcMahon
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Yes have seen several of the YouTube clips, interesting.

David
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Old 20th Nov 2020, 12:55 pm   #5
Richardgr
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Default Re: Tefifon

I read somewhere that the biggest backward step in 'groove' reproduction was going from a cylinder to a disc, since there are so mnay problems transcribing a fluctuating signal on a fixed width groove that is travelling at ever slower speeds past the needle.

So potentially driven by that design requirment, and hence could have had better sound quality? Also there would be no way to destroy 20 minutes of music by an inadvertent scratch across a single side, likely to be cleaner because the spool protects the surface, and perhaps simpler to play?

Where did it all go Pete Tong!
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