The Telefunken Magnetophone 15A tape machine

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• wtf??? the brochure says they can spin up to 50ips!!! that is totally insane? did anyone ever try that?
  pjd

• Very little German equipment was sold in the US because it was very expensive. They had a captive market in West Germany and in those countries where broadcasters were munificently government funded that was not price sensitive. So the Germans priced to suit. Their labor costs were phenomenal also because of 100 percent unionism, assemblers and techs made as much as managers and drive Mercedes. As expensive as an Ampex was it was less money and it fully supported.

  Another problem with German equipment with mechanicals was that they often overengineered products and did not use interchangeable parts between models. It's like a Porsche 944 and 928: nothing interchanges. Ampexes are like small block Chevies.

• It is interesting that during most of the last half of the 20th century and definitely in the pre-digital era, even smallish national consumer markets, such as in Europe and Britain, were sufficiently expanding in terms of sales and public funding to support a homegrown audio manufacturing industry of some technical depth and quality. What went wrong? That is... wrong with OUR end. NOT the old cheap (Far Eastern) imports argument, because much of those early imports were high quality premium products too.