Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Listening to the M420 last night put a smile on my face while reading Mike Fremer's comparison of the $9K H&S Ice Blue to Ortofon A90 and Lyra Atlas. I felt no more than a slight tingle of penis envy for these MCs.

It's interesting how much smaller Acutex's tri-pole induced magnet assembly is in the 420 series as compared to the prior 320 series. The 320 marketing literature talks about the advantage of oversized magnets. Accordingly the 320 has a much larger and heavier 6.2gm 320 body. The cantilever armature of the 320 is also more complicated, with tabs that project radially to the induction poles inside the cartridge body. In contrast the 420 is a svelte 4gm. The 420 looks cheaply build in comparison to the 320. But maybe looks are deceiving. Unfortunately one of the armature tabs on my 320 is bent and in need of repair, so a comparison will have to wait.

The second example occurs at 2:51, also in Brecker's solo. One of the things that made Brecker's sound so distinct was the post-Coltrane technique of "splitting" a note. What is meant by that is that the player is able to play a note and make other notes sound at the same time; gives the sound of that note a very dramatic quality. The way it is accomplished is by (in this case) playing the high G on the tenor by fingering the G an octave below and sounding the harmonic one octave above. In the process, if the player has enough control over the instrument, a third note "E" can be heard; he is in effect playing a chord on a melody instrument.

When tonearm/cartridge settings are not correct, what should be heard as three distinct notes becomes simply distortion in the sound of the note. The closer I get to correct VTA and azimuth, the more distinct the three notes become.

Frogman – your being a musician is obvious and gives you such an advantage when listening to LP’s. What a great post. Your turntable system is an extension of your instruments ?

Look forward to more recommendations from others.

I’d like to recommend Miles Davis KOB a very popular LP that many have and is great sounding. I am not ready to post any remarks on it yet...

Anyone else ?

Thanks, Ct0517. I look forward to your remarks on KOB. It's a fantastic record with well-deserved popularity.

Frogman: A LP we could all agree on introduces a variety of unforseen issues. I understand that some of you are trained musicians with differing perspectives than some of us. Your mention of "Nightfly" is interesting. Yes, I believe it was one of the first digital recordings, still it envokes something, maybe, unexplained within us to envolve ourselves in this music. The musicians of this group and the music lovers may be able to come to an agreement of an appropriate reference lp.

I was reminded recently by a friend that Paul Simon's "There Goes Rhyming Simon" is an excellent recording to understand and descern the complexities of a recording. While it is a kind of (best of), it is an analog recording of excellent quality.

What do you all think?

Having said this, I realized lately that the one thing I neglect to account for in my listening sessions is the tone, etc... of each instrument. While I do notice it, this is an interesting and involving make-up of the recording that is often lost.

I am somewhat concerned that just two of the many posters are interested in a (reference) lp in which to judge.

On-line judging isn't optimal, neither is, up to date reporting of similar components in differing systems on the same tonearm...?

What is the use of all of our spending, listening, comparing and of systems we will never hear or experience together, unless we have a (descent analog) reference in which we can agree on? And even then, It's very Xo%!ing lacking of any validity!