Maybe most of you are aware of this, but I post this in case its helpful to newer members of our hobby. Several years ago I bought a 3 part feature, the sound on the first part was not clear, the other two parts were fine. I thought at first I had used too much lubricant and ran the film trough a dry cloth, but it made no difference. Another time I would run the film and it was OK.

More recently, about a year ago I bought another 3 part feature. Same problem with the first part, you could hardly distinguish what was being said. I thought at first it must be a fault with this particular print, but as it was 65 years old, wouldn't this have been returned to the lab?. If it was a TV print it would have been impossible to show it. I tried running the projector backwards then forwards to see if that helped, no; then I pressed the loop restorer several times, that made no difference. The white leader was old but looked to be in perfect condition. I didn't want to return the film as faulty as it had been one I had wanted for some years, but in it's present state I could only watch it myself.

Something gave me the idea to replace the leader, and if it made no difference, I could put the old leader back; so I added about 6 feet of new leader, threaded the film, and Bingo, perfect sound. So now I have one other film to sort out before I next project it.

Longer leader solved it you mean? Would never entered my mind ... Nice to know, thanks

It was brand new leader. The instruction manual only says use the system restorer for bad sound.

rob, sounds like slack film round the sound drum.pressing the restorer returns everything to
as it should when auto threaded. but yes, allways make sure you have good leader, without
splces in it.

Yes, you're correct there Miles. I don't know why the loop restorer didn't help, but it''s all sorted

I would never had thought about it!