Plug-and-play

Rob Lomas has a site called The Edison Shop. There, among pictures of old phonographs and music transcriptions, he sells a device he calls the ACT (Advanced Cylinder Technology).

It is a plug-in cartridge mount that fits standard Edison phonographs. Just take out the original reproducer, put in the ACT and play. With this cartridge you can play any cylinders the phonograph was originally designed for (2- and 4-minute, concert cylinders etc.).

The cartridge sits on a very short arm that is spring loaded to a fairly high 4 to 5 grams (in a previous edition of his page, Lomas gave the pressure as 8 grams), giving rapid reactions with cylinders that are in less than perfect shape. The output is a normal 5.5 mV, and it comes with three interchangeable styli.

This is a compact and easy-to-use player, but you will have to depend on that your old Edison phonograph is in good shape, that it keeps a correct and steady speed all through the cylinder played, and that it advances the reproducer/cartridge at the proper speed.

According to what I hear from users, it is just as easy to use as it seems.

In a later development, the ACT/2, there are two RCA output connectors, one for each channel of the stereo pickup inside. It is sold with a preamplifier and cables by both Rob Lomas and Peter Liebert.

Chister Hamp, 2004