Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

I certainly hope so Frogman :^)

His results were fascinating but predictable, and showed when it comes to this analog vinyl hobby much can be figured out. Since its all mechanical, vibrations, resonances, electrical. There is no hokus pokus going on.

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And I say the above as a career IT guy......

My understanding (without giving away his observations) is he substituted the chopstick but kept the single leaf spring and the inert lead weights.
As we know the leaf spring is like a tuning fork designed to resonate. And when used as a single, double, triple leaf spring can be matched up to a resonating cantilever, much like a musician tunes up his instrument. I am more assuming here as I was a trombone guy - and the only valve was for body fluid from my personal distillery (thank u Pagasus !) My tuning was done with my lips. So maybe Frogman, Pegasus, ....can elaborate on the tuning instrument aspect better.

As with a tuning fork - a thicker stiffer one (ET2 double/triple leaf spring) will resonate higher than a thinner one - ET2 single leaf spring)

Anyway imagine what happens to the music when you add in something that is porous and absorbs much more so than the stock I beam itself.

Quiz question:

What leaf spring would work best with a stiff cantilever from an MC cartridge ?

(Hint you want to match the cantilever up to the resonating I Beam)

As the Canadian dollar continues is crumble against the American dollar - I am now willing to bet 115 instead of 100 Canadian loonies that no professional reviewer in the history of the ET2 ever figured out the above.

it hasn't brought up a chartreuse key with a dayglo (bright) label attached to the short end reading

my secret weapon

When used as the sun is just cresting the hill top, on its way down; guaranteed to attract those fish, like an audiophile at the Audio Show where they are presenting the latest and greatest power cord. :^)

dare taken

Mod a product of insomnia and inspired by Frogman's post about using wood and getting the counterweight further out. The one in the pic is 5" out. Can't recall the cart I mounted, but the distance allowed the use of only the main cointerweight. used 2 leaf springs.

As I possess zero mechanical skills, the desire to try out wood required that I locate a more or less ready made item, hence the 'sushi-grade' wood, i.e., wood from the chopsticks they give at sushi restos. Didn't quite fit properly, so needed to do some whittling, and when that went too far, the addition of a shim.

Can't recall exactly the sound, but here's what I wrote Ct0517,

I had only a half hour, but here's the quick impression: harmonically richer and warmer; loss of resolution and less articulate bass. I'm unsure about the extent of the latter two since I didn't have time to dial in vta.

Never confirmed those initial impressions because, as an ET 2 newbie, I didn't have everything under control (still don't). So, it seemed pointless (excepting the fun involved and battling insomnia) to be messing around with mods.

Might be worth it to return to in 6 months or so when, hopefully, I have a better handle on operating this amazing arm.

Is there an acutex 420str bubble I don't know about? Economists will be dumbfounded by this phenomena, but those of us who have listened to it on an ET-2 can perhaps understand.

Me, I just wish I had bought more of these toy like carts at pre-bubble prices. Who knows, maybe the Italian has a warehouse full of them in anticipation of just this moment in history.

****I had only a half hour, but here's the quick impression: harmonically richer and warmer; loss of resolution and less articulate bass. I'm unsure about the extent of the latter two since I didn't have time to dial in vta.****

Banquo363, thanks for the pic of your chopstick/ET2. Your description of increased harmonic richness mirrors what I experienced with my wood (balsa) I-beam. That was the main attraction for me when using the mc's that I used at the time; they tended to be leaner and not as harmonically rich as what I hear in live music. The apparent reduced resolution is, for me, a deceptive thing because I think sometimes leanness is perceived as increased detail. I also experienced fuller bass which I believe was the result of having the counterweights further back and not because of the wood. While I could improve the articulation of the bass by adjusting VTA, it was easy to have bass which was overblown; obviously not a good thing and I ultimately preferred the stock I-beam (double spring) with the MM's that I have been using over the last few years. Speaking MM's, the 420STR remains one of my favorites and I too wish I had bought a couple of extras. Happy New Year to all!