Pathé actuelle, it's alive

[Microtrol]

After finally acquiring a Pathé Actuelle with a damaged cone, the new paper cone made by Buford Chidester arrived and after a bit of test fitting it is installed and this machine sounds so good. I am surprised at the clarity and volume that the machine has compared to my victor machines and think it is one of my best sounding machines. I wonder what others here on the board that have one of these think of the sound compared to their other machines. I think my Borgia II is the closest sounding machine playing orthophonic records.
Brandt

[marcapra]

I also just got a Pathé Actuelle model J. My cone was redone by someone in white. Buford said that is not his work as he re-cones in tan. I just got a new sapphire ball stylus and just played a Pathé record. Mine sounds terrible with lateral or vertical discs. Maybe there is something you are supposed to do other than replace the cone? Maybe the string needs to be tightened somehow? But I heard a friend of mine's Actuelle and it sounded great! Maybe someone out there can tell me what to do?

[JohnM]

There is no string connected to the diffusor cone in an Actuelle. There is a hollow metal tube that has both ends crimped to become more solid that is held under compression between the stylus bar assembly and the metal cup at the apex of the cone. The metal that this rod is formed from is very thin and can be damaged easily -- one tiny crease in it and it will want to bend at that point like a damaged paper straw. I've seen photos of white diffusor cones, but I've never seen one in person, so I can't speak to the characteristics of the paper chosen, but you may try adjusting the springs that bear against the stylus bar to ensure that the tension through the rod against the cone is just right.

[Cody K]

My Actuelle also came with a torn cone, and I was surprised to be able to get it to play with any fidelity at all in that condition. After the new cone (also made by Mr. Chidester, who deserves every bit of the praise he gets for this work) was installed, I was thrilled with the quality of the sound.

There are a few adjustments that do seem to be really important, as outlined in this document that was posted on the forum some time ago:

ActuelleInst2.jpg (157.48 KiB) Viewed 2185 times

ActuelleInstr3.jpg (45.07 KiB) Viewed 2185 times

When installing a new cone, it's crucial that the interface between the transmission rod and the nipple at the peak of the cone are adjusted in a Goldilocks way, not too loose, not too tight, but just right. I found that the new cone was just a little taller than the original, a matter of a few centimeters. You'll see that loosening the three screws labelled "G" on the diagram will allow you to adjust the position of the cone frame closer to, or farther from, the point of attachment at the nipple ("F"). It's a tricky adjustment, because it's quite easy to move the frame too much or too little, and small increments matter. My experience has been that too-tight results in the diaphragm vibrating a little too vigorously, which diminishes high-end response and creates a kind of distortion not too unlike the sound of a stressed diaphragm in an ordinary soundbox. Too-loose seems to result in a loss of volume and fidelity. When adjusted accurately, the sound is really delicious, as Brandt finds -- right up there with some of the best acoustic Victors, with the added benefit of the Actuelle's non-directional sound!

The other adjustment that I've found to be most important is also referred to in the instruction page: the "D" screws were well out of adjustment when I bought the machine, and getting them right made a huge difference for the better.

I don't have a sapphire stylus yet, nor more than a few Actuelle vertical records, so I haven't been too concerned with vertical issues. But I did find that after installing the new cone, the position of the designations for "Lateral" and "Sapphire" at the top of the cone frame were a little out of whack. These really do want to be right at the noon position when playing records. You can adjust this by loosening the (unlettered on the diagram) two collars just to the right of the cone in the diagram, positioning the cone frame until you feel the stop preventing it moving further, while at the same time, the designation should be just at noon, and then tightening. When I first installed the new cone, "Lateral" would move further toward the back of the cabinet, to maybe the 1 o'clock position. You can compensate for this by adjusting the needle chuck to suit, but that's cheating, and I found that the proper adjustment produced far better results.

After all this fiddling, I still have one issue that's driving me a little crazy: while the machine produces splendid sound for the most part, there's a sympathetic buzz that sometimes occurs for a split second when a record hits a certain pitch, marring an otherwise perfect playback. It seems to have to do with those two crucial little "D" screws not yet being perfectly adjusted, and while adjusting and re-adjusting them has diminished it by about 95%, I guess I haven't hit it quite right yet. I'm beginning to suspect that it goes to a problem with the small springs that these screws adjust, or possibly a slight misalignment of the transmission rod, causing it to vibrate sympathetically when that pitch is reached. But I'm not ready to disassemble it to find out -- yet!

It's tough to get all of the adjustments just right, because there's so little information about the Actuelle mechanism available, and the machines are scarce enough that there's not a great deal of user experience to draw from online, either. (As any Actuelle owner can attest, a search for "Actuelle" turns up dozens of hits -- almost all referring to the records, not the machines!) I'm grateful for the pages I reposted above, they've been very helpful to me in understanding the mechanisms, and I hope they will be to others. But there's a bit of trial and error involved, very much worth getting into, for an Actuelle once properly adjusted produces excellent sound.

Congratulations on acquiring your Actuelles -- they're remarkable, unusual phonographs!

[Microtrol]

Wow, I had looked for those instructions before but impatience as I am I went ahead and tried using Buford's instructions that worked really well. After installing the cone on to the frame, i noticed that the rod inside the main tube was first not sticking out sufficiently to contact the brass cone washers. So as discussed by Cody, I loosened the support collars and cone frame and moved the about ¼ of an inch to get the rod to just touch the cone. This took a few trys to get right but I reassembled everything and the machine sounded horrible. I started looking at the rod and noticed the it was bent and touching the inter wall of the main tube. I pulled the rod out by removing the two screws on the sides of the main tube next to the needle d gently pulled the cap off with the rod attached. ( you want to make sure the screw that connects the cone to the rod is removed and when pulling the cap off, don't rotate to much as my tube just has a slot inside). I rolled the rod on my granite counter top and gently straightened it back till it looked straight. I reassembled the unit but it was still close to the inner wall. I found that by rotating the speaker cone frame a bit, I could get the rod tip to line up with the cone washers. Reassembled and had a very loud and nice sounding sound from the machine.
I have never heard of a string variant on these but have seen The white cone before. Buford's cone is done very well. Maybe you should put up a few pics of what you have for the members here.

[Cody K]

Brandt, that's very interesting that you were able to remove the transmission rod and reinsert it. I've been wary of even looking at it, because as JohnM has mentioned here and in other threads, it's meant to be very fragile. I may yet take a look at it, though, if I continue to suspect that it's the source of that annoying buzz. My suspicion is that it's just barely close enough to the inside of the tone arm, somewhere along the line, to set it a-vibrating when that certain frequency hits.

Regarding the color of replacement cones, I think the white one may be from a service in Chicago, the name of which I can't remember offhand. Mr. Chidester's "default" cone is made with the tan paper, which is what he sent me. But he told me he's also done one in pink (!) for a customer. The tan cone has a very slight glaze to it, not present in the original paper, which he tells me does help to bring up the high end a little. I think it may also help to stabilize the paper's swelling in humid New England summers, and shrinking during the heating season's dryness, which would naturally affect sound quality at least to some small degree. It's a shame that the original paper, which was printed with a pattern of tiny dots to simulate parchment, is no longer being made -- having gone the way of the Credenza's grille cloth.

I'm glad you've been able to achieve optimum sound from your Actuelle. It's really worth the trouble it takes, to make all these little adjustments.

Marcapra, let us know if you have any success with these suggestions!

[Microtrol]

Cody, the rod though fragile, is stronger so long as it has not been creased. When I removed it, it took a bit of time gently removing the cap to pull it. When i got it out, it was bowed into a arc, about ¼ inch in the middle and I suspected that it rubbed in the center that was causing all of the distortion that I got before. I have straightened items like this before on my model t so I was comfortable doing it . Saying that, JohnM is absolutely right and the possibility of damaging the rod is high so patience and taking your time is warranted.

[De Soto Frank]

This has to be one of the most fascinating talking machine designs... along with the Vitaphone...