Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

ET2 Damping Trough

Hi Frogman/Slaw/others – what type of fluid are you using for damping now after all these years ? Have you changed from the ET supplied fluid.

Slaw – you said “The sound has opened up quite a bit and still seems to have the dynamics, fast transient response, and real bass weight (not bloated)”

Without the trough in place I noticed similar results / just a tad brighter. I have not re installed the damping trough yet. Weights are to the very end. I added one thin ET2 lead weight last night which brought the weight assembly of the 1.1 gram cartridge to number 5 on the scale. The benefits remained with a little more bottom end and it seemed to help with the highs as well in my system. But I need another listening session to be sure. Call me crazy - I believe the mood you are in when you start listening to your system affects what you hear - the body has blockers. This is just a gut feel obviously. Listening sessions over multiple days usually ensures me what I am hearing is in fact what it is to me in my room.

FWIW – the same words here describing the sound we are hearing is how I would describe the sound improvement I heard when I replaced the soft VPI rubber belts with thread except it was multiplied.

Cheers

Chris... I still use the ET supplied fluid. Your observation on mood influencing what you hear I think has some validity. When listening to brand new Lps, what I hear the first time doesn't always equal to what I hear the second time. I believe this has something to do with unknown expectations.

I am using the ET supplied silicone fluid.

ET air pressure:

I've experimented again. I understand other perspectives' (17 psi) , however, in my system ( and I do believe this is system dependant), very slightly under 19 psi is the desired pressure.

Not seeing the forest for the trees. Sometimes the obvious is not so obvious.
Both of my ET2 arms are currently mounted on pedestals/pods where the braided wires come down vertically at least 6 inches before they touch the plinth. I had experimented with the newer Cardas wire and it was causing some frustration in me this past year as I moved the arms around many times between pods, pedestals and full plinths. That Cardas wire just seemed to twist and curl, go into loops when braided and was not user friendly.

Well from pictures and suggestions here I unbraided about 8 inches of the wire into separate strands starting where it exits the arm tube. Much better results. With each strand separated it no longer twists and curls into loops -it can be tugged at with little effect on the arm, when it is raised and balanced with the extra blue tac on the couhterweights making it delicate. Just passing this on.
Cheers