Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Hey guys, I've mounted my Acutex 420 and thought I'd send some intial impressions. I am having a couple issues with my current wire loom that's keeping me from an optimal set-up. So please keep this in mind regarding remarks I make on cartridge performance.
My wire loom was made with longer than usual cartridge clips that require me to use an 1/8" spacer. Now that the cartridge total height has increased, I've had to make adjustments to allow for this by raising the manifold assembly in the vertical post. Only now can I get the top of cartridge body parallel to the record surface with the arc block centered in it's adjustment range. So, now the center of the spindle is farther than I'd like above the height of an lp.
The tonearm exits the back of the armwand: I constructed this with a braid/shield inside the armwand and had it exit around an 1" . This makes it impossible to get overhang exactly right with this cartridge at this point. I'm about 1/32" too far forward.
Obviously, I will correct these issues in the future.
I'm using a double leaf spring, w/ VTF @ 1.5 grams, top fo cart. body parallel with lp, running slightly above 17 psi. All remarks are comparing the just removed Dyna D3.
The first thing that hits me is the bass. It has greater authority, the bass lines are very easy to follow, has greater realism.
The midrange is natural and unforced. The treble is pleasant and has no edge. Not as extended as the Dyna.
Soundstage has nice separation, placement of performers and instuments are nice in the context of the total picture.The spread isn't as wide as the Dyna. The Dyna has more of an airly quality. Soundstage doesn't extend beyond speakers.
Doesn't do audio gymnastics, but that's is fine with me.
I'm loving it already and do not miss the Dyna.
The two lps I've listened to so far are Police "Ghost in the Machine" which was the last lp I heard befor making the switch and Shawn Colvin "Steady On". If you don't already own the latter, I can recommend it.

Bear in mind that you are not comparing a Dynavector 17D to an Acutex 420.
You are comparing a "Dynavector 17D plus Bob's Cinemag 3440 MC transformer" to an Acutex 420.

Hi Slaw, tuneful bass indeed. The Acutex on the ET makes the most realistic bass that I have ever gotten with my setup. Not just powerful (a lot of cartridges do that), the bass moves with the same rhythmic impetus as the rest of the frequency range; essential for music to "make sense". A truism among musicians is that things always start from the bottom up. Again, not the quantity of bass, but the clarity of the musical contribution of the bass "voices". Get that right, and a lot of things fall into place.

The soundstage will open up as the cartridge settles. When you say you have the "body" paralell to the LP, I hope you mean the top mounting plate and not the "nose" of the cartridge. After the cartridge settles in (takes quite a while) try increasing VTF .1-.3 grams, while at the same time raising the back of the ET a bit. Increasing the tracking force will lower VTA.

Also check the amount of torque used on all the ET adjustment bolts. A subtle effect, but I have found that if the bolts are too tight the sound is not as open and opulent as it can be. It's even easy to over tighten the bolt that secures the end cap that holds the leaf spring to the extent that the spindle tube can be squeezed and become misshapen, adversely affecting the sound.

Dover: That's true, plus the 1/2 m cable I used.

Frogman: Yes, I'm referring to the top of the mounting plate. After around 6 hours in, I'm noticing the soundstage being better integrated however sibilance has become an issue. Kind of spitty, or sizzle. I can assume that when I'm able to get optimum set-up this issue will resolve itself and the qualities that now seem very good will become even better. Thanks for the additional tips.

Frogman - that was one point I was going to mention that has not been covered, the tightening of the 4 bolts on the manifold. I tried one bolt tighter than the rest to get a single point ground effect, but ultimately came to the same conclusion as you, evenly and not too tight.
Re the cabling, my ultimate set up had the armwire running straight from the wand to a teflon block on the side of the tt plinth midway along the arm travel, ie centered. But I also turned my preamp sideways and backed it up to the deck so I only needed 6" of cable from tt to pre. I simply soldered the arm wire straight into the phono cable. The whole loom was probably not much more than 14". For some customers I would install phono inputs on the side of the preamp, if the phono was situated on the left, so they could put the preamp next to the tt and run super short looms. In my own instance 6" of raw MIT cable beats 1m of MIT Oracle ( and probably any other phono cable out there ) easily in this application. The best wire I found was a silk ofc litz, preferred to stock, Vdh silver & cardas.