Tefi : Band in the UK ...and other tales

More info on the (predominantly) 1950s German music player system. This time thanks to a very generous donation I'm able to demonstrate a Tefi Kurz Band to you. If you just want to see this section jump to 07:31 however if you get time to watch the rest of the video you'll hear more facts and figures and details about the history of the Tefifon and the Tefi company.

Love it when someone completely nerds out on a niche topic and goes on a 9+ year binge, well done Markus.

Marcus did'nt just go down the rabbit hole, he took a shovel and extended the whole warren.

It has a surprisingly clean sound, to be honest.

Markus has found his fixation. Usually it ends up being wargaming or models. This man saw an obscure German audio format and fell in love. You go Markus. You go.

That Tefi Band adapter is absolutely gorgeous. Impractical but very stylish.

"A bit of a kerfuffle starting in 1939 and everything went to heck." 😂😂😂 One of my favorite lines

" “Cuba Baion” is a Latin-tinged orchestral composition by German accordionist/bandleader Kurt Drabek, which apparently first appeared in a 1957 album titled Auf den Flügeln bunter Träume. What is also interesting to note is that many years later, the song enjoyed some popularity when it was included on a Techmoan video about the Tefifon, a German audio-playback format that lasted from the ’40s to the ’60s."

The design language of the TEFI KURZ BAND logo, is so amazing 😍

One of the things that I miss about The Moans, (the puppets), is listening to Cuba Baion. I think it added to the humor.

I swear Mat is the reason YouTube exists. He has covered so many fascinating things on here, that when i see his videos, instant play and instant like.

As awkward as the kurzband setup was, it was really cool seeing the tape go around like that. Huge kudos to Markus

If it wasn't for Mat's videos, I wouldn't be aware of the existence of the Tefifon.

Turns out the Tefi factory was about a 20 min. drive away from me.. there are historic photos available from 1956 that show the building. Pretty big factory stretching to the river Rhine. The building was reduced to half the size later and since the 90s there is a very 90s looking residential complex there.

Mat you're rapidly moving into areas different from 'merely' a Youtuber - besides a Historian of some fascinatingly obscure Tech - I'd always dreamed that you would open a physical museum to allow visitors to see many of these obscure formats (or indeed experience them).And now you're inspiring rejuvenation of these formats, incredible stuff!

“I know it’s been a bit more of a chatty one” 16:33 Honestly, the talking, in depth nature of this channel is what keeps me coming back. There are things that you cover that are so niche that you’re one of the few reliable sources for them- without you information about vintage audio would be a lot less accessible. So keep talking, the world deserves your words.

I'm fairly sure the Tefifon T 541 or at least a very similar model, in the top left of the ad at 4:45, is the one that's extant in our family, so to speak. When I was a kid in the 90s, that one sat on the lower shelf of the TV stand at my grandparents' place, as far as I can remember still plugged in and at least with the radio part working. When their household was broken up after grandma had passed away and grandpa moved to a retirement home some 20 years ago, the Tefifon went to my aunt, who in turn sadly passed away last year, and now it's with my mother. It no longer works, as at least one tube is broken, but still has a cartridge in the Tefifon player on the top, I think some paperwork as well (user's manual, possibly?) Edit: Spoke to my mom, it's a Tefifon M 540, very similar-looking to the T 541, with one cartridge, the Tefifon's manual, and one broken tube.

I’m completely amazed at how the plastic bands are still intact after so many years.

That music sounds ancient even for the 1950s. It's hard to imagine kids in the 1950s bopping to a ragtime piano instrumental recorded onto a piece of Fruit by the Foot.

There's just something so charmingly retro-futuristic about the whole tefifon concept.