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Pathé platters
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mjbarnes
- Victor II
- Posts: 210
- Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2014 10:34 am
Pathé platters
I thought I would try playing a 35 cm Pathé disk, but they won't fit the turntable. Disk too big and spindle hole too small. What do people play these on (I mean modern electric stuff)?
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drh
- Victor IV
- Posts: 1480
- Joined: Tue May 27, 2014 12:24 pm
- Personal Text: A Pathé record...with care will live to speak to your grandchildren when they are as old as you are
- Location: Silver Spring, MD
Re: Pathé platters
I have played the 35 cm (aka 14-inch) discs, center- and outside-start alike, on a Strathclyde STD-305D and on a Fons CQ-30, both fitted with 9" SME arms and both having just enough clearance between spindle and tonearm base for those records. Longer arms probably would have been better, but the 9" length did the job. These are both "vintage" stereo turntables from companies long defunct, and the Strathclyde is distinctly a rara avis.
A few months ago I bought a Reloop RP8000MkII, a current production Technics imitator, aimed at the DJ market, with built-in digital speed display (alas, in % deviation from "standard," not RPM) and enough pitch variability to cover the entire range needed; it has enough clearance with the tonearm mount, but the on/off switch is on a pod that's just a shade too close. Fortunately, it also has a very tall spindle (relatively speaking), so by parking a diamond disc under the Pathé it's elevated enough to clear the pod.
The spindle holes of most discs are fine, some a hair too small for the Reloop's spindle, a problem I never had with its predecessors. For the latter discs, a half turn with a reamer is almost always enough to make the imperceptible enlargement necessary for the disc to seat. Done lightly and with care, this operation does *not* render the disc too loose on older gear (like acoustic phonos). I find that some Pathé discs simply will not play on modern turntables, though--for whatever reason, they skate no matter what I do. Those just about always play just fine on original Pathé machines. I can think of only one that didn't, one of the little like 8-inch discs. I've had poor luck trying to play Pathé discs with adapters on Victor machines. I think the tonearm geometry just isn't compatible.
A few months ago I bought a Reloop RP8000MkII, a current production Technics imitator, aimed at the DJ market, with built-in digital speed display (alas, in % deviation from "standard," not RPM) and enough pitch variability to cover the entire range needed; it has enough clearance with the tonearm mount, but the on/off switch is on a pod that's just a shade too close. Fortunately, it also has a very tall spindle (relatively speaking), so by parking a diamond disc under the Pathé it's elevated enough to clear the pod.
The spindle holes of most discs are fine, some a hair too small for the Reloop's spindle, a problem I never had with its predecessors. For the latter discs, a half turn with a reamer is almost always enough to make the imperceptible enlargement necessary for the disc to seat. Done lightly and with care, this operation does *not* render the disc too loose on older gear (like acoustic phonos). I find that some Pathé discs simply will not play on modern turntables, though--for whatever reason, they skate no matter what I do. Those just about always play just fine on original Pathé machines. I can think of only one that didn't, one of the little like 8-inch discs. I've had poor luck trying to play Pathé discs with adapters on Victor machines. I think the tonearm geometry just isn't compatible.