About the Company
AEG was one of the foundational reel‑to‑reel manufacturers: its Magnetophon machines of the 1930s created the modern tape recorder, and AEG continued producing professional and consumer tape decks in Germany until the magnetophone business was transferred to Telefunken in the mid‑1950s, with the AEG name remaining on some machines into the 1960s.
Origins and Magnetophon era
In 1928–1932, working with Fritz Pfleumer’s magnetic‑tape ideas, AEG engineers developed early tape‑playback and recording devices, culminating in the world’s first practical tape recorder, the Magnetophon K1, shown at the 1935 Berlin Radio Exhibition.
The K‑series Magnetophon machines (K1 and successors) used plastic‑based oxide tape developed with BASF and were aimed at German broadcasting organisations and large venues for speech and music recording.
Technical advances (bias and hi‑fi)
Around 1940–41, AEG engineers Walter Weber and Hans Joachim von Braunmühl introduced high‑frequency AC bias, transforming Magnetophon performance into what is generally regarded as the first truly high‑fidelity tape recorder system.
By 1943 AEG had practical stereo Magnetophon recorders in service, and wartime broadcasts and concert recordings on these machines later inspired post‑war American tape development (Ampex, Mullin, etc.).
Post‑war production and Telefunken transfer
After the Second World War, surviving Magnetophon units and AEG’s patents were studied and copied in the USA and UK, effectively seeding the global reel‑to‑reel industry while AEG resumed production in a devastated German economy.
In the course of a post‑war restructuring, AEG formally handed over its Magnetophon / tape‑recorder business to its subsidiary Telefunken on 1 October 1954, though AEG‑branded band machines continued to exist in documentation as the historical starting point.
Production span and product range
Brand overviews summarise that AEG produced reel‑to‑reel tape recorders from 1935 to 1969 in Germany, covering both studio/broadcast machines and some consumer‑oriented units before Telefunken and later other firms took over the segment.
The early K‑series machines targeted broadcasters and institutional users, while later AEG/Telefunken designs broadened into more compact recorders closer in form to the post‑war consumer decks that became common in the 1950s.
Historical significance
AEG’s Magnetophon line is widely acknowledged as the direct ancestor of almost all later reel‑to‑reel recorders, influencing everything from Studer and Ampex studio machines to domestic hi‑fi decks.
Even though the AEG name itself receded from tape‑recorder branding after the 1950s, its engineering work on plastic tape, AC bias and multi‑motor transports underpins the entire subsequent production history of reel‑to‑reel recorders worldwide.