Tribute to Pierre Clément (1906 - 1970)

The Archeophone, which was designed based on the tangential arm of the A1B turntable, owes much to Pierre Clément, the inventor of this turntable (cf. article The Archeophone, in the Review of the Museum of Arts and Crafts, No. 27, June 1999). I also express my gratitude to Patrick Louvet, who guided and assisted me with patience and expertise.

This tribute to Pierre Clément also aims to present and propose possible ways to utilize the best of Clément's equipment today for playing monophonic records, vinyl, and 78 RPM discs.

Pierre Clément was one of France's most prominent figures in electro-acoustics, particularly known for his expertise in the delicate issues related to faithful playback of phonographic engravings. He received his training as an electro-mechanic at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers. Upon joining Chauvin-Arnoux, a manufacturer of measurement instruments, he began to explore the sonic applications of electronics. Before 1930, he turned to the film industry, working at "Debrie", and later focused fully on phonographic techniques during his seven years with "Carbobronze" (the French importer of "Dual" professional turntables), where he particularly worked on cutting heads.

In 1938, Pierre Clément started his own business producing radio receivers. However, he was drawn to broadcasting practices and joined the "Laboratoires Radio-électriques du Centre", where he remained until the end of World War II. During this time, he designed and developed an original disc cutter, which he did not manufacture until the war ended. By 1944, it had already gained favor with official broadcasting services.

From then on, Pierre Clément continued to work for French radio and television, and his technical renown, along with his high professional standards, quickly earned him a loyal clientele of audiophiles who valued quality, even if they sometimes had to exercise patience with his meticulous craftsmanship, which had few equals worldwide.

Pierre Clément's reputation, which began with disc cutters and cutting machines, with dozens built for early recording enthusiasts and sound hunters, continued with the remarkable series of phonolecteurs. Initially electrodynamic (Models D1, D2, D3), these evolved into magnetic variable reluctance models, with 8 successive models from L1 to L8, progressively refined to approach as closely as possible the technical imperatives required for faithful playback of both standard discs [78 RPM] and microgroove discs [vinyl]. Even before microgrooves became popular, Pierre Clément had already begun to significantly reduce moving masses, lowering the tracking force to around 10 grams. Such phonolecteurs, equipped with a 25µm stylus, revealed to many the potential quality of early microgroove discs, which the American "Columbia" executives seemed to have somewhat underestimated as they sought to revitalize a stagnant market.

With the L4 model, Pierre Clément undoubtedly created one of the finest monophonic phonolecteurs, and it is unfortunate that this remarkable achievement was commercialized too late (possibly due to delays at RTF), as it could have gained worldwide renown. The Pierre Clément establishments focused mainly on professional equipment, with the "Schlumberger" firm alone absorbing nearly 80% of the production from the mid-1960s onwards. However, inventive imagination was always active, as evidenced by the highly remarkable turntable mechanism with servo-controlled tonearm [tangential arm turntables A1 then A1B], which Pierre Clément was finalizing when he first showed signs of the illness that would eventually take him. This magnificent mechanism stands as his final contribution to the challenging art of phonographic playback.