The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi WJW, I too often enjoy playing lateral-cut records on my Pathé Actuelle "just for the fun" as I get more acquainted with the Actuelle--even though not more than fifteen feet away is my Victor "Granada" (4-4) Orthophonic phonograph that plays them MUCH better. You should order a sapphire stylus, though, to explore those Pathé vertical cuts. George Vollema of Great Lakes Antique Phonograph (you can google him) has them for $49.45.

What model do you have? I bought a Sheraton "art" model in a horizontal cabinet.

Once you get your sapphire stylus you too can weigh in on the issues of record wear, tracking, etc.

Ralph

Ralph, I meant that I used the Actuelle for vertical Pathé's and the cactus needle worked ok. My machine is a standard case and has electric drive- a single-coil induction motor. It has a light bulb near the turntable that you turn on with a cool 1920's two button switch. Haven't messed with it much as yet but I can see that the rod connecting the needle to the cone is touching the tone arm. Future project.
My only observations thus far: The mass of the linkage would seem to be tough on records but there may be some compliance built-in near the needle end (again, haven't messed with it yet) and the angle of the needle to the record, at least for playing lateral cut records, should be a bit more acute, it seems to me. These are really unique machines and I'm happy I was able to get one. Enjoy!

Thanks, wjw. I've seen photos of those electrically-driven Pathé Actuelles and they must be very, very scarce.

I continue to fuss with my Pathé Actuelle/Sheraton paper cone phonograph. One just HAS to love such an usual machine, even though it is disappointing in so many respects when compared with most of its competition. I hasten to add that the French-made Pathés were apparently quality machines, but Pathé's attempts to break into the American market with the Actuelle was just not supported by competitive technology. DIFFERENT technology, but not competitive. AT least that history makes your particular machine very, very scare indeed.

Over the past few days I have been trying to use my Actuelle's automatic shut-off. I've read the instructions, but the mechanism works properly only one out of four times (more or less). The only part of my Actuelle that I can grade as "above average" is its double-spring motor, which cranks and runs incredibly smoothly--beating the Victrola and Edison motors (at least the ones I own and can compare with directly).

Ralph

Ralph, I'm sure you will figure out the auto-stop long before I will!

It's true that those Victrola motors, while quite robustly built, seem to lack a certain refinement
at the governor drive compared to some other brands that always run so smoothly. My favorite is the Diamond disc mechanism- Oh, the stuff we used to make in this country!

I currently have two Actuelles -- one spring and one electric and have owned three others over the years. I haven't had a lick of trouble like what is being described in this thread from any of them. Sure they have a thinner sound, but that is how they sound. I've noticed that the European center-start discs are louder and more present than American-issued hill-and-dale discs; and of course lateral electrics are louder and more present than acoustics. Paper label DD's sound good, too. Haven't experienced any of the wear issues. You know you can adjust the length of the arm relative to the yoke to change the weight on the stylus end, right?

wjw, I agree re. the robust Victrola motors--lacking a certain refinement--whereas the Pathé Actuelle motor I own is just so incredibly smooth.

JohnM, I will see if I can't address the wear issue by shifting some of the tone arm weight away from the stylus and back towards the paper cone--though of course that could add to the tendency to skip. I'll just have to see.

"Thin" is a good way to describe the Actuelle sound. I also describe it as rather flat. It's like a two-dimensional representation. The various recorded elements are pretty much all there, and with the acoustical recordings (that in themselves have limited high and low pitch ranges) the Actuelle reproduces them "not bad at all." But with the Actuelle you never hear that "third degree" of depth that you can find via the Victor orthophonics and even (to a lesser degree) via the Edison Diamond Disc machines; that "sense of the room."

Ralph