The Stereo* Tefifon
My first video of 2024 welcomes the return of an old friend, the Tefifon - however this time it’s stereo*.
https://youtu.be/yqfVS6ahArs
If you want to hear more Tefi music, as mentioned in the new year’s eve year video, I uploaded a whole cart to YouTube to check for content matches and that test video can be accessed HERE
Well it’s almost the whole cart - the last track matched, so I muted it. There’s no video to accompany this (other than a garish orange screen) as it was just a content match test. Also there’s a phase issue with the audio which makes it either sound 1) A bit stereo or 2) A bit weird - depending on your point of view. When I used part of this audio in the main video, I mixed one of the channels down to dual mono instead. But please bear in mind this extra is something I would normally delete - it's not a proper video.
Anyway I hope you’re doing well - if so keep it up and thanks for all those new year well wishes.
*It’s not stereo.
UPDATE :
Swapped out the video because I decided to add a few seconds back in during the end monologue as this covered off a couple of things raised so far.
Comments (42)
A second shout-out from Adam Savage! That's super cool.
Someone just got name dropped on Adam Savage’s Tested. https://youtu.be/uYGUdWpeg_w?si=eJQfWNIuY-Y0WNVU
Love me these obsolete formats! Great video as always! That last song is a real bop!
"Singing the Blues" in German, excellent! Have to say I'm impressed by the quality, considering the nature of how it is being reproduced and how old it is.. Happy New Year to you both..
Your latest foray into the Tefifon have tipped me over and down the rabbit hole. Are you aware (you probably are, but others may not be) that is a "cas-single" version for the Tefifon called the Kurzband? It requires an adapter to play and is a single loop that plays for 3 minutes and looks about a foot long when stretched around the adapter and play roller. Here is a picture of the various carts available: https://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/tefi_apparatebau/tefifon_koffer_abspielgerat_kc1_ko_89044.jpg And here is a YouTube video of it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoCymJHQkh4
Yes these very rarely turn up for sale and the adaptors are even rarer.
That was interesting as always, Mat and I really like the music at the end! Happy New Year to you and "the missus". :-) SB
Love it. You continue to document an interesting period of history when the music industry had so many niches and fences that it was possible for many different distribution formats to exist, even if most of them came and went. Every one that you've spotlighted seems to have been engineered to address the particular needs of a different segment of the market.
I think the original Tefifon videos were some of the first I saw. I've clearly been subscribed all that time. A friend of mine, a subscriber of yours, sadly passed away on Christmas Eve, aged only 43. He was the only person other than yourself I knew that owned some VHDs.
That’s sad, sorry to hear this.
I fixed the channel phase problem of the audio you uploaded, and also applied a light crackle reduction and tweaked the EQ a bit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yohhaecdF7MizJixdhfM69t9rgf_ww0h/view?usp=drive_link
Hopefully someone will find it useful.
On the dutch ebay (marktplaats) I found a device called a bimbobox which uses a tefifon for the music. https://www.marktplaats.nl/v/verzamelen/automaten-overige/m2028772740-bimbobox Here is the info from the dutch wikipedia translated: A bimbobox, also called a monkey box, monkey orchestra or monkey machine, is a vending machine that plays music and plays (monkey) and movevs the puppets. The puppets, which hold musical instruments in their hands, suggest playing the music themselves. The bimboboxes were built in Germany from 1958 to about 1980. They were mainly placed in department stores and amusement parks. After inserting a coin, the machine played an (instrumental) song. The dolls usually depicted monkeys, dressed in ponchos and cardigans, but sometimes Disney characters or black people. The monkeys were placed in a tropical setting with palm trees. I remember seeing one when I was a child. Don't know if the tapes where created for this box or where generic ones.
I do remember reading up on these when I made the original videos - one of these also appeared in an episode of American Pickers - but of course they hadn’t got a clue what a Tefifon was at the time. Given though that they made their way to the US I’d imagine at some point as a child I must have seen one of these in the U.K. - the idea seems very familiar and I always spent a lot of time in the arcades on seaside holidays in the 1970s and early 80s.
Nihon Seiki Jewel Co., Ltd. or "JICO" will do custom / bespoke stylus for record players. They have an archive of previous reproductions but they will also make a new one on request. Obviously bespoke services like this have a cost but figured I would at least mention their services.
I think this one would need a whole new cartridge assembly - but that’s a useful thing to know in the future, so thanks.
Can i find a copy of song at the end anywhere? I assume it's "singing the blues". I have an elderly German neighbour whose day would be made considerably brighter by hearing that version. Thanks.
The whole cart can be played from the YouTube link here https://youtu.be/xZTZLyKyKAo
Mat, I guess you've cleaned up the crackles & pops, but still, it sounds pretty damn good for such an old device! How many plays can one expect from each cart before the plastic tape wears?
I think it’s very dependent on how they were stored - I’ve encountered plenty of unplayable carts with plastic that seemed hardened - I was fortunate with the first set I bought. The sound is straight off the cart though, no alterations.
In anyone is interested, in the test complete cart sound YouTube, at time 12:12 is none other than Cuba-Baion. "eine eingängige kleine Nummer."
I don't know if that strange stereo pickup uses the same technology, but the ones of your older Tefifon model originally used a bare piezo crystal pickup system. All there was to protect the crystal from the environment was a little blob of wax. That wax hardened and broke over time and water got in contact with the crystal, basically dissolving it. That's what happened to my own Tefifon, which my now-wife bought me as a gift after I showed her your videos. The crystal is completely gone. Your older Tefifon has an actual cartridge pickup, I have no idea if that was a later repair or an original improvement, IIRC they switched to cartridges later on. And that's what people do as repairs, just modify a cheap modern cartridge, like those simple Ion-branded ones that fit on the Crosley-style cheap turntables and done. Electrically there is really nothing in a Tefifon, just a switch for the motor and a cable directly from the pickup, that's it. Any modern replacement cartridge is already stereo, so just add another cable and you got a stereo Tefifon. The cartridge I bought years ago for my repair (still pending...) was a magnet pickup, because, why not, so I'll need a pre-amp for that, but I have no idea if the weaker signal would be prone to interference from the rustic motor in there. Time will tell...
Yes the cart on this one looks like it uses a blob of wax on the end too.
A new Tefifon video - the new year has started on a high!
Can’t believe it’s been 8 1/2 years since the first one!
Mat, I asked my German friend if he can find a source of a replacement stereo cartridge for you. He says there are forums with topics about the Tefifon and some other types of cartridge have been used. If I get any news I'll send you a Patreon private message.
I’ve got a link here https://www.wumpus-gollum-forum.de/forum/thread.php?board=18&thread=210 But without any stereo carts - it’s not something worth pursuing at the moment.
8,5 years ago? Wow, did I subscribe to this channel a LONG time ago... Still, to ever see ONE Tefifon is special, to see two different ones... Fascinating!
Tell Skip I loved the music. I can listen to it without it distracting me. How about a picture of the set list on the cart?
I’ll ask him to make that the thumbnail.
Just looking at a picture that I took on 28 August 2011, I was at an exhibition called "Grossvaters Radio" (Grandfather's Radio), there was a Tefifon (AutoCorrect thinks Telfon) there, in pristine working order! The mechanics look like your old model, but in a nice suitcase with a power amplifier. I was quite stunned by the idea of putting grooves on a tape... Funny that a couple of years later your video about it showed up. They had a very nice collection of radios and record players there, and also working wire recorders, I was quite amazed by the sound quality they produced! We spent some hours at that exhibition back then!
Saying Tefiphone after all the years of Tefifon makes you suddenly sound very posh.
"Singin' the blues" is a fairly well-known song which seems likely to hit a content match. Maybe changing the lyrics to German is enough to keep it from matching, but why wouldn't it match the melody and not the words? Anyway, Mat may have another smash Tefifon hit on his hands now!😃
That's what made me wonder, too, "Singing the Blues" was a massive #1 hit. Maybe it's sung in a different key and slipped through?
Woah now this is a fascinating bit of kit
So what makes it a Stereo player? Is it the stylus? Is there some sort of decoding circuit? Sorry, I really don't know what all is involved. But speaking of the stylus, can it be replaced, or is it purpose built for the device? I have always found the the Tefifon interesting (probably my favorite device you have covered). I saw one of the ones that incorporated a radio on ebay on seriously considered buy it just because it is cool tech. The maker in me really wants to make a new teficart with Kaftwerk's Autobahn. A good use for a medium that can play long pieces of music. I also want to make a new Hit Clips chip of Cuba Bion. Oh well. we will see what 2024 brings. Tefi-Karaoke?
It’s got a stereo stylus cart (and output) - but the stylus/cart is pretty much dead and unobtainable. Some people with these have cut down modern carts to fit.
I was only able to listen to this in my car; looking forward to watching the video at home as I love Tefifon in any guise. The machine design of its era is a delight to behold. Did you ever see the portable Tefifon with a built-in radio? Significantly larger, and probably heavier than three house bricks. Take care for now 🤍
I do have one of the portables with a built in FM radio - I seem to recall it was dead when I briefly looked at it. I’ll take another look at it one day.
Crazy! I literally just finished watching the old Tefifon video for the first time and then I see this new one posted!
That's a great video - guess the writing was on the wall for the format when this model was released. The 8.5 years comment made me realize just how long I have now been watching your videos! Time flies...
Can't wait to get it on