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Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners


Where are you? What mods have you done ?

I have been using these ET2's for over 9 years now.
I am still figuring them out and learning from them. They can be modified in so many ways. Bruce Thigpen laid down the GENIUS behind this tonearm over 20 years ago. Some of you have owned them for over 20 years !

Tell us your secrets.

New owners – what questions do you have ?

We may even be able to coax Bruce to post here. :^)

There are so many modifications that can be done.

Dressing of the wire with this arm is critical to get optimum sonics along with proper counterweight setup.

Let me start it off.

Please tell us what you have found to be the best wire for the ET-2 tonearm ? One that is pliable/doesn’t crink or curl. Whats the best way of dressing it so it doesn’t impact the arm. Through the spindle - Over the manifold - Below manifold ? What have you come up with ?
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richardkrebs
422 posts
 
Ketchup and Frogman.

Thanks for the pics.
Can either of you describe the changes with the wire outside. I would expect a more lively, detailed, precise presentation.

Seeing the manifold like that reminded me of the shim/grub screw set up. Has any one made any progress on this?
frogman
7,452 posts
 
Richard, the only time that I have not had the wiring on the outside was during the first two years or so that I had the arm (about twenty years ago!) when it was wired internally with VDH silver. I changed the wiring (Cardas) to reap the benefits of using a continuous run from cartridge to preamp. At the time, I did not consider the possibility of benefits due to the sheer fact that the wiring would be external. The improvement in sound was very significant, but I attributed it to the elimination of several solder joints and connectors along the signal's path. I have since changed the wiring two more times; Discovery, and currently AN which is my favorite by far.
richardkrebs
422 posts
 
Frogman.
20 years! It gets scary when you start thinking back doesn't it?
I also have a continuous run to the pre but put it inside purely for cosmetic reasons. My thoughts would be to route it such that it stands off from the wand a little. In theory there would still be some interaction between wand and wire, due to proximity. That said, the level of this may be just too tiny to notice. Have you per chance tried this?
frogman
7,452 posts
 
Richard, it does get scary! I have not tried that, but I will. Thanks for the tip; I will report back.
dover
2,247 posts
 
Hi Richardkrebs

Had a very good Easter beak, very relaxing. Thank you for asking.

Was wondering, now that you know how the ET2 works, whether you had found time over the long Easter break to remove the lead from your arm, put the decoupling spring back in, dial in the vertical effective mass ( less lead further out for your cartridge ) and set the I Beam resonance below the arm resonance as prescribed in the manuals.

Frogman, Chris & Slaw have all found significant gains with the correct decoupling strategy employed. Frogman has reported significantly more bass information loosening off the end cap as per my suggestion some weeks ago.

I would be very interested to hear what sort of improvements you get when you get the arm back to standard configuration.

Looking forward to hearing how it goes.
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