High Fidelity

Hi-Fi or high-fidelity recording began in Germany during the Second World War. The Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (German radio) produced experimental stereo FM music broadcasts in Berlin around 1941. The radio station used a customized magnetophon, the AC-bias German tape recorder made by AEG, a German electronics company. AEG engineers, Weber and Von Braunmuhl developed the new hi-fi tape recorder used.

John Mullin aka Jack Mullin was asked by the Allied Forces at the end of the war to investigate German recording technology. Mullin introduced high-fidelity to the rest of the world and improved upon the design of the magnetophon. Mullin created standards of performance still used in the recording industry today. Jack Mullin introduced America to high-fidelity recording. Mullin was also famous for his early broadcast of a Bing Crosby performance.

"When he put the tape on the machine, I really flipped; I couldn't tell from the sound whether it was live or playback. There simply was no background noise." - John (Jack) T. Mullin recalling the american development of the high fidelity tape recorder

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