Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Harold-not-the-barrel -
The ET-2 is another very interesting tone arm though.

Harold-not-the-barrel - my thoughts exactly over 10 years ago, and still today.
Welcome to the thread. Is there a story behind your moniker ?
Cheers Chris

Dlcockrum PS: I also have a nice stable of MMs: Empire 4000D/III, Signet TK-7LCa, Sonus Gold Blue, Micro Acoustics 530mp and 2002e, Astatic MF200, ADC XLM II Improved, and Shure V15 Type III MR. I read that some of you have liked the Empire with the ET Two. Is that still your opinion? What about the others?

A really nice set of cartridges Dave. You will want to hear them all over again with the HP manifold.

When you are up and running with it let me know if you would also like to experience the "420str". I can loan it to you for a few months.

For everyone on this thread.
I am very glad that Banquo363 decided to chime in here.
You see it was Banquo's personal 420str that he donated.... Bruce received, listened to and provided his review of here...
I am just the holder of it for the moment.

Cheers

Hello Harold, I hope some day to compare an ET to my Trans-Fi-- maybe when I find space to set up the VPI TNT and Kenwood L-07D side by side. Squeezing two linear arms onto one turntable wouldn't leave space for an LP...

Dave/Frogman -
Interesting your comments on going back to the aluminium arm with MM's.
With my aluminium arm I removed the heat shrink and internal foam. This yielded a lighter sound, but cleaner, clearer and less smear with both high and low compliance cartridges -Shure V15Vmr/Denon 103/Carnegie/Koetsu Black.

I also removed the soft teflon from the headshell and epoxied in a piece of carbon fiber. If you dont mind butchering your arm tube a little all you do is prise open the end, the teflon will pull straight out if you can get a good grip on it with some long nose pliers. Then just cut and insert the carbon fiber with epoxy and clamp the headshell up in a vice.

In my view with the low compliance cartridges tweaking the spring counterweight set up is plenty sufficient to get the optimum without having to add mass to the arm tube. I had no tracking problems with low compliance cartirdges in my lightened aluminium armtube. Follow the instructions on counterweight position, ie low mass further out and tuning.

When you go to 2 or 3 springs you are increasing the mechanical coupling of the mass of the counterweight and the cartridge sees more horizontal mass. I still prefer decoupling the spring by loosening the end cap and using teflon wedges to dampen the swinging counterweight motion even with low compliance cartridges.

Frogman you reported hearing more bass notes when you loosened the end cap off. Any update on this ?

Thank you, sir Chris
Nice to meet you. I very much appreciate your love and affection/opinions about linear air bearing trackers as general but I have no idea nor experience of ET-2, and especially your intelligence for having got one of the most exotic and mightiest TTs, the Platine.
Its magnetic field levitation/non-mechanical bearing must something like drive a good old Citroen. I fell for the BX more than 20 years ago and it can be taken away only over my dead body.
And me ? I´m just a lawnlower. And part of the GENESIS mythology I´m afraid. But I´m not like Harold the Barrel, that quite peculiar yet nice fellow from early days still going strong. And I appreciate him greatly as well. You see, my favorite song is "Harold the Barrel" from 1971.
Excuse me my ignorance about these fascinating things going on at A´gon lately but I´ve been busy with my own rather unorthodox experiments. In fact, I need to do a couple of final adjustments on my TT project right now.
Funny thing is, when I turn my back to A´gon for a few months at least one person has taken a giant leap in TTs... Well, you can´t stop Evolution can you.
Good day to you.

Harold