2. analog
  3. 1325551242

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 ?
128x128ct0517
frogman
7,364 posts
 
Slaw, sorry I missed that. :-)
ct0517's avatar
ct0517 OP
2,041 posts
 
Ketchup I cannot access my virtual system yet either.
frogman
7,364 posts
 
****Dampened it****

Interesting! Not the effect that the double spring has, making the sound much tighter with better detail, but less warmth. Perhaps it's the particular material you used. When you did this, did you notice LESS horizontal movement of the I beam.

Yes, I use the damping trough. In my set-up, while I would agree it does dampen the sound, it also makes the sound staging more stable with better separation.
frogman
7,364 posts
 
BTW, the key to using the damping trough is to allow the paddle to just barely touch the fluid. Otherwise the sound gets too slow.

Ct, can you be more specific as to what you mean by "damping". It's possible this is a semantics issue, whereby your "damping" is my "controlled". What I hear with the lower compliance in the spring is slightly smaller images, but better separated, better integration of the highs with the midrange, overall better detail with a slightly brighter presentation. Although, the highs are, as I said, better integrated and less "splashy". Perhaps this is what you hear as dampened.
ct0517's avatar
ct0517 OP
2,041 posts
 
For $15 bucks I am not going to mess around with this - I just ordered a double spring I Beam from Bruce. I warned him to be ready to possibly make a few. :^)

I told Bruce about this thread but he is too busy.

Buying these arms used:

Based on my experience the problem we have here is that when people buy these arms "used" very rarely I think do the arms come in their boxes due to their age and parts go missing. I have bought three of them in total and each time something was missing. I never got 2 I-Beams in three purchases.

Frogman – words describing the music are not my strong point. But I can tell you if it sounds good , better or best to me. So yes “semantics”

You said “Although, the highs are, as I said, better integrated and less "splashy". Perhaps this is what you hear as dampened.” - EXACTLY thank you.

If the sound is less detailed – not as much information I tend use the word “thick” to describe it – which to me is like fog or things not being clear.

Dover said in his post – “I have found any sort of dampening other than the magnet described slugs the sound.”
Looking forward to hearing about this magnet Dover.
More to discover