About the Company
Kontakt was a German brand of reel-to-reel tape recorders that appeared in vintage equipment listings. It was not a major consumer electronics brand with broad historic documentation, but at least one reel-to-reel machine bearing the Kontakt name is documented by collectors, indicating the brand was used on German-made portable tape recorders.
Production History & Context
Country of Manufacture
**Kontakt tape recorders were manufactured in Germany and appeared in the mid-20th century market, likely during the 1950s or 1960s — the classic era of portable “tube” reel-to-reel devices before transistors took over.
Electronics & Design
The documented Kontakt unit used tube electronics, typical of early reel-to-reel designs before solid-state (transistor) circuits became widespread.
It supported standard consumer reel speeds such as 3¾ and 7½ inches per second (ips) and accepted up to 7″ reels — common specifications for portable recorders of that era.
Documented Model
Kontakt 1
A vintage portable reel-to-reel recorder, featuring tube circuitry and typical consumer-grade performance.
Tracks: 1/2 (mono or split track)
Speeds: 3¾ and 7½ ips
Head type: Permalloy (standard for many consumer machines)
Voltage: Designed for 220–240 V mains, indicating European market orientation.
Market & Position
Kontakt machines appear in vintage “brand indexes” of reel-to-reel equipment but do not have extensive industry records like mainstream brands (e.g., Sony, Akai, Grundig). Their presence today is primarily through collector databases and listings without detailed corporate history.
Given the limited documentation, Kontakt likely represented small-scale production or rebadged OEM units targeted at customers in continental Europe seeking portable tube reel recorders — not high-end hi-fi or professional gear.
Legacy
Today, Kontakt tape recorders are rare finds for vintage electronics enthusiasts — often interesting as examples of early German reel-to-reel designs but not well documented in mainstream audio history resources.
Because most of the surviving record comes from hobbyist websites and collector entries (with limited detail), Kontakt remains a niche brand in the broader narrative of analog tape technology.