The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have a nice little Pathé "Le Coq" cylinder machine in good condition, including a reproducer rebuild, but it sounds terrible. Is it just that those little gutta-percha reproducers are just crappy?

Clay

Pretty much... they are generally too light and that's why Pathé made an optional weight to place on the reproducer for better sound. The weights are pretty scarce and expensive, IF you can find one...

Thanks for the tip. I didn't know about the optional weights.

Clay

I guess the reason is that probably the diaphragm has been replaced with a mica one. The reproducer with its original glass diaphragm has a (relatively) good sound, although soft. Pathé was not the only one to use such reproducers, several other French and German phonographs used similar ones made of bekelite, and they require glass to sound acceptable. I tell this out of experience, I broke accidentaly a glass diaphragm of a Pathé phonograph, and when I replaced with mica the sound was crappy.

Several things could affect the sound quality. As others have mentioned, glass diaphragms probably sound better than mica, particularly if the recordings are not too loud, such as brown wax. The molded wax and celluloid cylinders are louder and can cause blasting; mica may be better suited for those. Another factor that might improve the sound is installing fresh gaskets; the originals are probably hard as a rock. If you do play celluloid cylinders, you might also consider making your own slip-on weight instead of buying rare originals.

All of the floating reproducers are coupled to the carriage and horn by a loose joint that leaks air compression, reducing volume and probably lower tones; there is nothing you can do about that. Listening through earphones or a larger horn will offset some of the floating reproducer's deficiencies.