Linear tracking turntables, whatever happened?

Hi Whart

@ct0517 - I'm interested in your comment about setting the ET for highest vertical inertia. How do you accomplish that?

The Eminent Technology tonearm comes with four counterweights and it is quite easy to remove enough weight, so that the lightest weight resides at the very end of the I Beam. Highest Vertical Inertia.  In recent years due to our demand and interest, Bruce introduced an I Beam that is now in the length he originally intended it to be. Due to constraints with - Dustcovers - from tables it was partnered with, he had to go with a shorter I Beam in the original design. The longer I beam now reduces the weight requirements by half still - increasing vertical inertia even more. 

The Setup Issue  
in learning how to use this unique design, most people, including me in the beginning, just used all four weights in setup, and let all the weight reside on I beam, wherever it ended up based on the VTF needed. This is wrong, and sometimes the weights ended up very close to the Air Bearing spindle - not ideal, and goes against the setup design.   

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On the Airline from what I recall you are provided with two counterweights with the Kuzma ? Correct me if wrong. Try to do set up so that the lightest counterweight is furthest back on the rod. I don't know if two weights give enough option to run this way.  

Anyone looking to setup an ET 2.0 or 2.5 should upgrade to the longer I beam. Bruce also now offers a new Solid aluminum Mounting Plate and Joint (we call it the Gooseneck). they replace the Carbon Fiber versions.  

Analogluvr
The ET is a phenomenal tonearm and I can’t believe it sells for as little as it does

Bruce' pricing is consistent with his other products. he has never been part of Audiophile Markup strategies you see elsewhere. Personally I don't consider $5000 US,  without a pump cheap ? But, if it was being sold in Europe, I am pretty sure it would be selling with a 2 -3 times markup on top.

bdp24
Chris’ (ct0517) assertion that high vertical moment-of-inertia produces the best bass is to me, a user of London (Decca) cartridges, VERY interesting. That cartridge exhibits far lower vertical compliance than horizontal, which aligns well with a pickup arm exhibiting higher vertical m-o-i, no?

Bdp24

Hi Eric. Its not really my assertion. Its the way the arm was designed to run from its maker. My personal experience in running the vinyl rig alongside Master Tape Dubs (running 10 seconds behind) and switching between them helped confirm it for me. My Studer would out perform my vinyl when I first got it. Now the Studer is in need of hot rodding, if I was so inclined as my Vinyl Rig matches it or (better) as it can be tuned. This made me stop looking for tapes. I use the Studer now with the tapes I did buy as a reference point.  

Regarding cart compliances, all ET 2.0, 2.5 I beams come with either a single, double, or (triple) leaf spring to deal with different compliance cartridges. The leaf spring by design isolates the counter weights from the air bearing spindle. High compliance - single leaf spring, and so on. Most of us use the double leaf spring on our I Beams.

If my stocks were doing better 8^((( , and our dollar exchange wasn't so bad, (everyone sells in US dollars), I would maybe have some cash to look at the decca next as a cartridge.

So forget that and I will just continue to plod through my music library.

@whart
what size counterweight are you using with the Kuzma Airline currently, and where does its position lie on the rod in respect to the air bearing?
Interested in your findings.

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Eric - my and other owners findings confirm this; the actual assertion comes from Mr. Physics. 8^0

The Et2 owners manual is clear that it is ideal for setup to go to the highest number on the I Beam - the end of it. ET2 owners know what this implies.

Will illustrating with an analogy help ?

$1500 us is now $2000 Cdn plus customs/duties.
I don’t mean any disrespect by this, but Americans don’t seem to have an idea the plight their dollar is having on the rest of us.

Just want to second all that Chris has said re highest vertical inertia based on my experiences. As Chris may recall, early on in the history of his thread I mentioned that a few years previously I had constructed a long I beam fashioned from balsa wood. Due to the, not exactly state of the art, ways that I had figured out to attach the I beam to the bearing tube it was not a permanent tweak. However, the experiment showed me that there were sonic benefits in doing what he described; particularly in the bass. Frankly, at the time the notion of “highest vertical mass” was not what drove me to try it. It was simply something that seemed logical to try. One of the reasons that I love this arm is that it invites experimentation and I make most setup adjustments based on what I hear with the “theory” secondary. There is a symmetry to the visual impression that the arm demonstrates with the longer I beam that (not meaning to get too Zen about it) seemed natural. Maybe I just got lucky. I recently got two of Bruce’s new and longer I beams each of a different spring compliance.