recordinghacks

Microphones by Telefunken Elektroakustik

see productsAbout Telefunken Elektroakustik

  Telefunken Elektroakustik
300 Pleasant Valley Rd. (Suite E)
South Windsor, CT 06074-3441
 +1-860-882-5919
http://www.t-funk.com

Telefunken Elektroakustik was founded in 2001 when founder Toni Fishman acquired the US rights to the Telefunken name. The company began by manufacturing replacement parts for vintage Telefunken microphones, beginning with the pattern-selection switch for the Ela M 251 (a plastic part that is particularly vulnerable to wear). The company quickly changed course and began producing entire microphones, retaining the mission to make historically-accurate reproduction pieces. This required tooling up to manufacture plastics, fabricate metals, and, most complex of all, to recreate the most acclaimed and sought-after microphone capsules in history.

The company’s mission to reproduce classic vintage microphones is not strictly limited to the original Telefunken line; Telefunken Elektroakustik has branched out to include some original designs, some third-party designs, and even some classic designs that were never associated with Telefunken.

The company maintains three product lines:

  • Platinum series - historic replicas of vintage mics, hand-built in Connecticut, shipped with upscale accessories and a 5-year warranty
  • Professional or “no-frills” series - Platinum-series mics with new-style rather than vintage-recreation power supplies and fewer accessories (for example, no flight case is included). In some cases, the capsule differs from the one used in the Platinum line. The Professional mics are sometimes indicated with an ‘F’ suffix.
  • RFT series - inexpensive yet innovative mics, including 3rd-party products (such as the Silvia RM-5C ribbon mic) and modded imported mics (such as the M16 MK II).

The company’s name when incorporated in 2002 was Telefunken North America, but occasionally branded Telefunken Elektroakustik North America, and subsequently (perhaps due to their use of the domain name telefunkenusa.com) as Telefunken USA. In 2009 the company was named as the “Elektroakustik” arm of Telefunken — presumably meaning Telefunken Holding AG (headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany) — which significantly granted the company rights to trade under the Telefunken name in 27 countries worldwide. Telefunken USA took the opportunity to change its name to reflect its new place in the global market, adopting the name Telefunken Elektroakustik. The corporate website was moved to t-funk.com.

Telefunken Elektroakustik Product Listing