The Wilga reel-to-reel tape recorder, whose production was launched in 1960, was designed to record and play back sound. It is a portable device whose mechanism is enclosed in a leather suitcase with a built-in oval GD 18-13/2 speaker. The electrical system of the device is based on a set of three vacuum tubes and an electron ray tube tuning indicator (the so-called “magic eye”). It was the only tape recorder manufactured by the Tonsil loudspeaker factory in Września, which specialised in the production of speakers and microphones. The clear leader in production of tape recorders at the time was the Zakłady Radiowe im. Marcina Kasprzaka w Warszawie. After the Melodia tape recorder, produced by that enterprise, the Wilga was the second reel-to-reel tape recorder sold in Poland. The Tonsil factory operated from 1945 as Polskie Radio – Fabryka głośników we Wrześni, and from 1946 as Państwowa Fabryka Głośników, then in 1950 as Zakłady Wytwórcze Głośników, before finally being given the name Tonsil in 1960. After 1989, due to the rapidly changing realities of the market and the ensuing increase of competition, the enterprise was transformed into a company that, despite many organisational and financial disturbances, still exists, as one of a few in the Unitra union.
Wilga is a mono, two track reel-to-reel tape recorder. It uses a layout of two half-track heads: a dual-purpose (recording/deleting) head and a deleting head. For that reason, recording and playback of the track can be done in one direction – on one half of the tape in one direction. In order to record on the second track, the reel has to be turned over to the other side. Recording and playback is done at one of two tape speeds: 19.05 cm/s or 9.53 cm/s. The tape recorder is controlled using switches and knobs. A recording and rewinding lock protects against the accidental deletion of a recording. Due to the limited access to musical recordings, the state-owned radio stations operating in Poland broadcast records of selected bands in their entirety, thus allowing listeners to record them in breach of the relevant copyrights. To do this it was enough to connect the tape recorder to a radio receiver and tune it using a special signal transmitted before the broadcast. For the same reason, the tape recorder could also be connected to a gramophone.

Authors: Piotr Turowski, Filip Wróblewski