Trifecta; Diamond Disc on Pathé with Ultona Reproducer

[donniej]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzm6_8kh3 ... e=youtu.be

With the "Edison side" of a Brunswick Ultona reproducer and some ½" electrical conduit, now I can play anything!!! You The conduit needs to be shaped with a bender and silicone used to fit it into the (slightly larger) Pathé tone arm and Brinswick reproducer.
The sound is good and there are no tracking issues. This record was used becuase it's edges are swollen but it still tracks fine, even on the edge.
The weight on the record is 189 grams, the Edison reproducer's weight puts 193 grams of weight on the record. Adding the extra 4 grams made no change.
This configuration needs some cleaning up but seems to work well.

[brianu]

That's going to put a lot of weight and extra wear on your diamond discs... complete Brunswick tonearms, correctly used, have a counter weight on the back end to help lighten the load so to speak. Alternatively, you can just use a diamond tipped stylus in the Pathé reproducer to play diamond discs - they're vertically cut, just like the Pathé records.

[52089]

Alternatively, you can just use a diamond tipped stylus in the Pathé reproducer to play diamond discs - they're vertically cut, just like the Pathé records.

...just be warned, I have yet to see one of these that didn't mark the records while playing them.

[donniej]

I believe it was mentioned that this configuration puts LESS weight on the disc than Edison's setup. 4 grams less, to be precise.

[brianu]

are you comparing the weight of the Brunswick reproducer to an Edison diamond disc reproducer or a Pathé reproducer? If the former, that's not an accurate comparison... the Edison diamond disc reproducer, when properly adjusted on a diamond disc machine, will be suspended over the disc as the motor guides it across the disc, with only the relatively light "floating" bottom portion with the stylus actually resting it's full weight on the record. The Pathé reproducer on the other hand should definitely be lighter than the Brunswick one.

[donniej]

The weight that the Edison reproducer puts ON THE DISK is 193 grams. The reproducer weighs much more.
Pathé is 140g (on the disk).

[brianu]

So then why not just use the Pathé reproducer with a diamond stylus, the lightest of all three (and the correct one for that machine), rather then shove a partial Brunswick tonearm assembly into the thing?

[donniej]

I thought about making a diamond stylus for the Pathé but didn't want to destroy a stylus to try it.
If I found one for cheap I might give it a try.

[brianu]

They turn up on eBay now and then, they look just like the Pathé styli except the tip is pointed rather than rounded. But watch though, playing diamond discs on anything but an Edison machine with an Edison reproducer usually results in far more wear to the disc.