Telefunken KL-85 (c. 1959)
A reel-to-reel deck that shipped with a signed promise of 30-20,000 cycles, and a static problem its own belt drive couldn't shake.
Overview
The KL-85 arrived in Britain around 1959 as the centerpiece of Telefunken's home tape line. The company printed a bold claim on the machine itself: a guaranteed frequency range of 30-20,000 cycles per second at 7½ ips, ±3 dB, and 30-15,000 cycles at 3¾ ips. Each machine came with an individual certificate verifying it. That certificate is the detail collectors fixate on. Most domestic decks of the day were lucky to reach 15,000 cycles at high speed, and Telefunken put a signed guarantee on every unit that left the works. Studio Sound (February 1959, p.8) reproduced the guarantee in its pages, noting the certificate accompanied each deck.
The range was broad. The table model KL 85 T sold for 63 guineas, the portable KL 85 K in its case at 112 guineas, and the KL 85 KL - same specification but with a push-pull output stage rated at 6 watts - at 79 guineas. A separate stereo variant, the KL 85 T Stereo, was listed at 95 guineas for use with hi-fi equipment, with a stereo portable at 112 guineas. Dealer listings of the period show the plain KL85 at 75 guineas and the 85K at 79, with microphones extra from 5 guineas. Telefunken clearly saw this as a platform: table, portable, stereo, and a higher-power version all sharing the same transport and head assembly.
The electronics set the KL-85 apart in its class. The pre-amplifier valves were DC-heated, a deliberate choice to eliminate hum and background noise. A poorly heated AC filament shows up as a 50-cycle drone under quiet passages. Telefunken paired that with two matched loudspeakers, and the deck could be used as a straight-through amplifier, with the speakers doubling for monitoring. The tone controls were separate bass and treble, and there were three separate input controls with a selector for radio, microphone, and gramophone. A magic-eye level indicator handled recording levels, and the deck incorporated a tape-splicing groove for editing.
The transport was built for convenience as much as fidelity. Five press-button controls covered recording, stop, playback, recording interlock, and a "trick" button that allowed superimposing of recordings. Fast forward and rewind ran the full spool in one minute fifty-five seconds, tracked by a three-digit counter to pinpoint any position. There was automatic tape tension control, a double-screened motor, and connections for monitoring earphones, remote control, start-stop remote control, and an extension speaker. The KL 85 K took 7-inch reels and, at 3¾ ips, offered over four hours of playing time on a Telefunken DP tape. The deck was offered in green and grey cabinet finishes, according to a 1964 stolen-equipment notice in Studio Sound (May 1964) that listed both a green 3W model and a grey KL85KL among the recovered items.
Owners did not always find it serene. A letter to Studio Sound (September 1961) from a KL85 owner described static building up on fast wind - sparks arcing from the spools to the deck cover at roughly one a second, and a continuous phosphorescent glow where a finger touched the spool. The magazine's reply blamed the plastic construction Continental makers favored and recommended a silicone furniture cream on the plastic deck parts and spools to leave a conductive coating.
The KL-85 sat at the top of a range that also included the KL 75 and KL 65. Its price placed it among the premium British-market decks of its day - dealer tables from 1959 and 1960 list it alongside the Ferrograph 4AN, the Grundig TK35, and the Reflectograph. It was not a budget machine.
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