Found a Pathé cylinder machine at a Paris flea market today

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Mormon S
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Re: Found a Pathé cylinder machine at a Paris flea market to

Post by Mormon S »

soundgen wrote:
Phonofreak wrote:Wow, you got, a screaming deal. Congrats!!!! :D :D Dan, did you really pass this up when you saw this in person? I would have bought this fantastic machine set up, in a heartbeat, if I was there.
Harvey Kravitz
soundgen wrote:it was 20 euros and I bought it ! :evil:
No I didn't actually buy it :evil: I just couldn't believe someone would see this and walk away without asking the price :evil: it might have been 20 Euros
Yeah, would have asked the price even if I wasn't that interested. I would gladly pay 200, doubt it is for much more than that.

melvind
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Re: Found a Pathé cylinder machine at a Paris flea market to

Post by melvind »

Well, I am vacation with my spouse and this trip is not about phonographs or taking the time to figure out how to ship things like this home. While it was fun to find the time just is not right for such a purchase. We are going back to the market in a few days. If it happens to still be there I will ask about the price. I would be shocked if it is cheap. The prices are high at the market. Sometimes family comes before the hobby and I am happy for that.

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Mormon S
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Re: Found a Pathé cylinder machine at a Paris flea market to

Post by Mormon S »

melvind wrote:Well, I am vacation with my spouse and this trip is not about phonographs or taking the time to figure out how to ship things like this home. While it was fun to find the time just is not right for such a purchase. We are going back to the market in a few days. If it happens to still be there I will ask about the price. I would be shocked if it is cheap. The prices are high at the market. Sometimes family comes before the hobby and I am happy for that.
Totally understandable. If it's still there in a few days it's definitely not a stellar price :lol:

soundgen
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Re: Found a Pathé cylinder machine at a Paris flea market to

Post by soundgen »

melvind wrote:Well, I am vacation with my spouse and this trip is not about phonographs or taking the time to figure out how to ship things like this home. While it was fun to find the time just is not right for such a purchase. We are going back to the market in a few days. If it happens to still be there I will ask about the price. I would be shocked if it is cheap. The prices are high at the market. Sometimes family comes before the hobby and I am happy for that.
so if you had seen a hand wind Berliner you would have walked away without asking the price ? Sacre Bleue !

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drh
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Re: Found a Pathé cylinder machine at a Paris flea market to

Post by drh »

Some words to the wise: I have a Pathé 0, for which I paid a lot more than 20 Euros. I wish I hadn't. It's a cute display machine, but in my opinion it really isn't practical as a player. For starters, the mandrel runs backwards--that is, if you think of the horn as being an arrowhead, with the bell being the wide back of the arrow and the narrow reproducer end being the point, instead of having the cylinder surface travel under the stylus in the direction to which the arrowhead is pointing, it travels into the point. The reproducer rides in the cylinder groove the way a Victrola reproducer rides a disk groove, swinging in an arc across the surface of the record and propelled by the groove, not by any mechanical feed. Net result: unless you're very careful about how it's set up, it will want to gouge the surface of your wax cylinders.

Another couple of points to note. First, the rather weak motor is completely exposed and winds with a key, which unwinds as it plays; hence, you can't do "touchup" windings if it runs down in mid-side. Also, to play those presumably "salon" sized cylinders, assuming that unlike most Pathé cylinders I've encountered they are not so shot with mold as to be useless, you'll need a slip-on oversized mandrel. If you consider buying the thing, make sure that's included.

Don't get me wrong--I love Pathé machines and records, and the 0 is a neat little exercise in minimalist design. With experience, however, I wouldn't buy one expecting it to be more than a curiosity.

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