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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 ?
ct0517
frogman
7,493 posts
 
Dear Nandric, I do hope that you know that my comments are merely in jest, and for fun. I hold no bias towards your esteemed profession. In fact, I owe a debt of gratitude to at least two of the lawyers who I have had to employ over the years. On a tangential note (won't go into many details here), the end result of one of those instances is the relationship with my spouse, who because of her amazing work ethic has taught me that there can be be as much art and devotion applied to any endeavor; not just music making. (Please pass the box of tissues.....)

Regards.
frogman
7,493 posts
 
Dover, very interesting. The ET2 manual states that overhang should be set in such a way that the stylus lands on a perpendicular line which intersects the platter spindle. I have always found that I get better image stability (particularly with center image), and an overall more relaxed sound if I extend the arm wand so that the stylus lands a tiny bit beyond that line. Is that what you mean by "run a tiny amount of overhang"? Interestingly, the effect is more noticeable with low compliance cartridges.
dgarretson
2,609 posts
 
Frogman/Dover, I wonder if this is about adding a small and constant skating force to help propel the carriage toward the spindle in a more controlled manner. Similarly, when leveling the carriage, optimal set-up may call for a very slight tilt of the manifold toward the spindle to gain assistance from gravity. I tend to find level empirically-- by watching the behavior of the stylus in the lead-in and run-out sections, observing cantilever deflection, and listening for tracking problems and distortion. I suppose I should add a leveling bubble to the air manifold for a more precise assessment.
dover
2,291 posts
 
Frogman - yes. Ed Thigpen's response at the time was "he's probably right".
Dgarretson, I use to check the level on my ET2 by balancing it to 0 with an additional counterweight and checking that when nudged the arm would travel freely and the same distance in both directions from centre. This as well as a level on top of the tube. Possibly a string bias weight type of weight pulling on the end of the armtube may be "gentler" than tilting the arm in your instance ??.
lewm
13,451 posts
 
Frogman and other SL tonearm devotee's: I would think you are defeating one of the prime advantages of an SL tonearm by deliberately setting the stylus so that it is not on the radius of the LP (a line from the outer edge through the center of the spindle). By not doing that, you have a small but constant amount of tracking angle error at all points across the surface, and like Dave said, you have introduced some skating force for which you cannot compensate (no AS on an SL tonearm). However, as Duke said, if it sounds good, it IS good.
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