Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Dear Nandric, I am still waiting for my commission for the use of that endorsement :-)

****I forget the first rule for any component whatever: listen
first for yourself****

Aha! How true; nothing like listening for ourselves. I find most descriptions of equipment somewhat lacking. A comment that cartridge X is "better" than cartridge Z is not very helpful unless the listeners' tastes are identical and they have very similar systems. I have tremendous respect for Raul's ears and for his contributions. I don't think it would be doing any "injustice" to mention that I have disagreed with a couple of his assessments (at least in part). The Andante and the ATML170 are two that come to mind, and highlight how important personal sonic priorities are. Realistic (to me) dynamics is probably what I am most sensitive to. The Andante is very good in the dynamics department but I find it lacking in midrange timbre faithfulness. The AT does almost everything extremely well, but I find it to be dynamically polite. The Acutex has the "alive" quality of the Andante (and more), and the superior timbre, staging, and bass reach of the AT, while possessing a very direct quality instead of the AT's "always pretty" quality. Yet, Raul wasn't impressed. Perhaps you are correct that his sample was defective. Raul, if you are listening please chime in. Likewise, since you still own one sample please give us your impressions; but do give the cartridge some time to settle.

You are fond of colloquialisms and sayings. And since "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", I will end with:

Regards and enjoy the M(M)usic. :-)

Dover – I just now realized I may have put you in an awkward position asking for impressions on a general forum. My impatience in the interest of your findings. From your posts, you are in a rare position in this hobby with your product experience level . I have included my email in a recent post if you would like to share info that way or here for the others.

Now without having heard any of those TT’s in your list I can say, based on my own experiences.

This has been said already here but is worth repeating. The ET2 needs to be level with the platter and remain so. The air delivery and spindle must also be isolated from air turbulence, moisture and structure feedback. Introducing “any” TT that increases the risk of movement, vibrations, turbulence, structure feedback is asking for trouble and will be easily heard sonically in the ET2 as a problem. Whether as distortion, sibilance, or lack of HF LF extension, or if really bad not able to track. Any problem where the groove is not tracked properly.
Hence sprung turntables or TT’s with add on’s (pumps that need babysitting) - increase risk of movement with an ET2. Likewise any rigid table (being more prone to structure feedback on its own) introduces the possibility of structure feedback. Pump design (air turbulence). My first ET2 was on a sprung VPI HW19 IV and it was a PITA until the suspension was defeated. My SP10 set up is very easily affected by structure feedback. With that my Verdier has a pneumatic suspension but it is stiff enough that the arm is not affected. The turntable has stayed level since I have owned it. I’ve seen some very heavy arms mounted on this table so the ET2 is a piece of cake. As a point of interest to ET2 owners I have emailed with JC Verdier a number of times. As a Frenchman he could not recognize the ET2.5 in the pictures I sent him, but was impressed with what he saw of its construction.

Therefore looking at your list based on what I have said – I could probably study how the TT’s are made and come up with my own preferred top 6 list if I was shopping for a TT for my ET2 tonearm. You have however not given any details on the pump setup or whether it was a regular or HP ET2 model.
Cheers

I thought this would be of interest regarding power hits and LP playing.

We have been enduring the hottest summer I can remember. There have been a few power hits due to demand and storms.

We had a power hit on a beautiful but very hot day this past Saturday. I happened to be playing LP's.

I always knew I had some time with the air bearing tonearm due to the pump design but never tested or actually experienced it going out before.

The Timeter pump lets out PSI gradually. Like a balloon letting its air out slowly. I have about 12 seconds to lift the arm before it reaches a low enough PSI to actually start skipping (just under 2-3 psi).

The Verdier will continue to spin for about 25 seconds when the motor is shut off. The JN Lenco spins for just under 20 seconds. The SP10 MKII is dead on power out :^(



Cheers

Dear Frogman, Your 'complaint' remind me of this story.
A satisfied client to his lawyer:'dear sir I have no idea how to thank you.'
The lawyer: 'dear sir since humans invented money this no
problem at all.' Not sure why but all my acquaintaces enjoy
in partucular to tell ME such lawyer tales.
Well I expressed my indebtedness to you already but I had no idea that you are also a lawyer. As such you should know that an demand or claim needs at least some legal foundation. Otherwise I would be able to demand from Chris
to lend me his beloved ET2 for a month or two.

Regards,

Otherwise I would be able to demand from Chris to lend me his beloved ET2 for a month or two.

Nikola – Be careful what you wish for. You are a very witty and brilliant minded person. I get that just from reading your posts here and emails. I am no match for you. Now if you read my OP you will see that I am on my 10th year now with this tonearm and I am “still figuring it out”. So what makes you think you can figure it all out in 2 months ? That’s pretty bold I must say.

Now understand “figuring it out” to me means making it as best as possible. Oh sure just setting it up and getting it working is no problem and even on a boring old aquarium pump. I even have one that you can barely hear that can even stay in the same room next to it with a filter for moisture. But there is so much that can be done here to optimize sonics and customize it. Imagine being able to change your wiring out in 10 minutes for copper, silver, whatever, tuning the arm for different cartridge compliances. magnetic damping, etc….

I take the important clues from our friend Geoch, that when buying an audio product look for those that give you access to the critical areas that can be improved. Those are the genius designs. BTW Geoch put out a couple of really good posts recently here (I thought) on how to optimize a pivot arm and very few on the thread seemed to show any interest :^( yet….

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1309722499&&&/Graham-Phantom-II-12-quot;-dimensions-an

Here’s my deal for you only as I recognize these arms were not common there. JC Verdier as I said had no clue what tonearm I was using on his table. I will send you my second ET2 tonearm – the 2.0 HP Version to use for a couple of months. If you commit to two things.

1) Read the manual. If you can get through the manual you will know you are a candidate for this tonearm.

2) Commit to getting a proper air supply system that will give her the air quality she needs to run a good race.

The Olympics are on TV. I run everyday so the running events I am more interested in.
BTW tell me this is not cool. Just for today however, Google's Aug 7th homepage.

http://www.google.com

The ET2 tonearm is like a long distance runner. The tonearm itself is the body and lungs. The Pump is the heart with the tubing being the veins. Success and optimization with this tonearm for me has been 40 % proper setup and 60 % air delivery system. Improve the condition of the heart (pump) and just like the runner the ET2 improves.

BTW - There are some out there that have custom 50 PSI ET2 models. The problem as I see it is that Bruce is a really low profile guy. He is the type of guy that never felt the need to put words like “Supreme” on his tonearms. In fact unless you measure the spindle or are familiar with the tonearm to notice the larger spindle, you will not know which model you have. Those with 50 PSI models if they sold them, the new owners probably don’t know what they have.
Have you seen his subwoofer Nikola. Did you realize that Bruce made the first true subwoofer.

http://www.rotarywoofer.com/

Ok so the offer is out with everyone here as a witness. The manual can be found here Nikola in two parts.
Again be careful what you wish for.

http://www.eminent-tech.com/main.html

Ready, set , go …

Just a fan, and this tonearm is just a tool in an overall system.