Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

@pegasus ,

Your post reminds me of some of the possible adverse affects of a suspended (spring especially) plinth TT used in conjunction with the ET. I believe this was THE major pitfall I encountered through all of my iterations of the HW-19 and all of the upgrades I did to it and my ultimately going in another direction for a while. I do not regret my learning experience one bit.

(In your last post, I noticed you referred to the Mapleshade scale. I’ve used it for years).

I do admit that after watching MF’s Rega factory tour several months back, one (of the many things) that struck me was their development of an extremely accurate scale! I’ve been waiting for it to come to market. Finally, It’s here! I have one on it’s way to me now.

@slaw: Regarding Mapleshade scale - as much as I like it's precision, it is always drifting slightly (besides the necessity to place the needle at exactly the same spot).Thinking about it, I dream about a solid 5kg linear low noise power supply to feed the scale and to be placed on the subchassis while measuring :-)

@pegasus ,

I made a mark on it’s center resting plate for my own peace of mind..

Check out the Rega at the Cable Co website... I think you’ll be impressed! It seems that everything about a scales' construction/accuracy has been rethought and addressed.

Since it comes to me at no cost I can spend some $$ on an arm.

The plinth is not an issue as I will be replacing the original Garrard plinth. Perhaps with a new plinth it would even accommodate an ET II, but I’d like to hear your opinions.

Hi Harry - for some reason, I am reminded of the guy that has an ad in the "For Sale Boat Section"; This guy is offering a free boat, but he wants $1500 for the trailer. The boat needs a new floor and seats. But the engine is ok. Not many people I know, know how to do upholstery. 8^0

A proper idler plinth is $$$$. Unless you have a shop and plinth building skills, unlike a self contained DD unit which leaves many options, there is a learning curve with a idler.

He had a 301 mounted in (believe it or not) a huge butcher block."

8^0 One way to deal with those idler vibrations.

I went down this path myself years ago Harry. Its exciting but I did not have the time, the shop, to acquire the learning curve. I let someone else do the legwork for me. Jean Nantais. Google him if not familiar with the name and my sample is shown in a few pics on my virtual system. See Pic 10 with the ET II on it. My table has an interesting history. It was JN’s personal table at one point. I bought it off a friend of his.

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Me thinks Frogman will have competition from Styrk and Harry on the next ET 2.5 auction - 8^0

Happy B Day Harry - my B day is this week as well.

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Pegasus
On the website of the Adanalog MG1 arm – which is similar to the ET2

Pegasus from what I see the MG1 has a moving manifold. The ET2’s manifold is stationary. Just this difference brings very different design considerations. Apples and Oranges.

@ct517 the design difference has for shure not escaped me - "interesting differences" indeed!
But in regard of horizontal mass, the degrees of freedom of the air bearing (not the details of bearing tolerance and pressure) and its placement relative to the subchassis and platter, they are very similar. That's the point. And this is relevant regarding suboptimal drive pairings.

It's no accident that VPI and many VPI users have converted their originally suspended chassis towards rigid or semi-rigid subchassis coupling, similar to many of the newer (post 2000?) turntable designs.
This design change seems to be of sonical advantage (in general) already for conventional arms – my experience ist that this is even more true with air bearing arms.Interestingly, if one considers the Trans-Fi design or the Opus 3 Cantus and simlar "short arms", they reduce this sensitivity to rotational modes of a subchassis, because the rotational force on the subchassis pulls more along the arm instead of lateral.