Talks to Watch

Vintage Electronics - The Tefifon

1.5M views · Apr 6, 2015 · 10:19 · 3 HN recommenders · 4 mentions · discussed 2016–2018

Techmoan demonstrates the Tefifon, a vintage German audio player that combines elements of record and tape with a grooved elastic loop. He shows how it works and plays it.

Why Hacker News points people here: HN fans use it as the gateway to the Techmoan channel and praise it as one of the most fascinating obscure audio formats.

“My gateway video was the one on the Tefifon”HN comment, 2018

What Hacker News said 4

Strongly recommendsInclinedPlaneMar 2016

“Such a fascinating technology though.”

Coolest obscure format covered, a tape loop with grooves.

Full comment

The coolest thing he's covered, I think, that I'd never heard of before is the tefifon: this video It's basically a continuous loop of tape (similar to an 8-track) but with groves recording music (like a vinyl record). It didn't see much popularity outside of Germany and then was essentially obsoleted by magnetic tape. Such a fascinating technology though. In a parallel Universe it probably would have been vastly more popular.

in “Forgotten audio formats: The Highway Hi-Fi” · view on HN
Strongly recommendsrogerbinnsJun 2018

“My gateway video was the one on the Tefifon”

Gateway video into vintage electronics channel.

Full comment

My gateway video was the one on the Tefifon - this video - a consumer music playback format. Production ended the same decade we stood on the moon.

in “The Nixie Tube Story: The Neon Display Tech That Engineers Can’t Quit” · view on HN
RecommendsaembletonApr 2016

“I can also recommend Techmoan.”

Techmoan reviews obscure old HiFi gear like the Tefifon.

Full comment

If you want another rabbit hole to start down, I can also recommend Techmoan. He doesn't do teardowns, but instead likes to buy old HiFi gear and reviews them. Some of them are incredibly obscure such as the Tefifon: this video

in “USB power supply puts 220 Mains power out on USB jack” · view on HN
Cites itdexenJan 2017

“More or less ``8-track meet vinyl''.”

Tefifon is an elastic loop format, like 8-track meets vinyl.

Full comment

Speaking of forgotten audio formats: Tefifon, old german analog loop of elastic, non-magnetic, tape. More or less ``8-track meet vinyl''. this video link

in ““Talking rubber”, a forgotten audio format” · view on HN