Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Thanks Pegasus,
I started college (1961) majoring in engineering.  At the end of my sophomore year intermediate calculus drove me to change major to political science.

I have an ET 2 that has not been upgraded to the high pressure manifold but I'm am running it with a pump that gives me @ 8 psi.  I've been running the VDH with an extra magnesium arm I picked up.  I'll try the original al arm.  Thanks for the info.
Harry

@vpi 
I have found with the original aluminium arm that removing the internal foam and heat shrink improved transparency. I did this ins stages to verify each step. Ypou might want to try it.
I also opened up the cartridge end of the arm tube removed the spongy teflon insert and replaced it with a piece of carbon fibre - fixed with araldite and compression.This is relatively easy to do and again provided a good improvement. 
Fyi years ago I had a Van den jul MC One -preferred it to the more expensive Grasshopper at the time. Verynice cartridge. It was more balanced and not as lean as some of the early Grasshoppers.

@pegasus 

Swaped arms from mag to aluminum.  Difference is subtle but audible Soundstage is deeper and cymbals are more extended with little or no grit.  The VDH is rather more up front than the Lyras I'm used to and the aluminum arm seems to push it back just a little.

@dover 

Ive had noting but Lyra for years ( Clavis, now Delos).  In comparison the VDH is not as extended or as transparent, however, the VDH has a richer (in a good way) midrange and even without the extension it seems to have plenty of detail.  Somehow I think it is just more musical.  If I were going to show off my system I'd use the Delos.  If I were going to listen to music I think I'd go with the VDH.  It is superb on acoustic guitar.

Excellent post VPI. Keep spinnin' :)

Dave

Last time I did an extended cartridge optimization session for a customer (SME arm), we extensively tweaked the tracking force and bias (.. ;-) by ear.
Start at the lower end of the tracking force, and prepare small balls of Blue-Tak at 0.1 gram, measuring them with a precision scale 0f 0.01 gram resolution.
By adding them (side by side and not pushing them flat) you’ll find a spot where the sound starts to feel slightly compressed, slower and too creamy (= too high tracking force / too low VTA), instead of dynamic, fast and a bit dry.
Go back to one mini-blob less and do the same with mini-blobs of ca. 0.01 gram.
It’s surprising how audible this is. It’s worthwile to start with finding the best VTA, do the weight optimization, go back to VTA and do the weight thing again. The weight adjustment and VTA interrelate *somewhat*, but they are not the same.
*Check the lateral balance=calm free floating in the middle, when adjusting VTA with the ET adjustment!*
Otherwise you introduce a major variable, while tuning a subtle, important factor.
It’s not a real hassle. But it’s ear opening.