Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

“If the goal were to keep the cartridge still, then one would never reach the end of the record.
The record groove is not a straight line; it is a spiral with a decreasing radius that requires the cartridge to move to the center of the record as it plays.”

Mumbo Jumbo from Dover.

When you ran these same arguments months ago I suggested you drive quickly over speed bumps and see whether you need damping.

Better still: disconnect one end of the rear dampers of your car (not difficult to do) and drive quickly over speed bumps. Tell us whether you need dampers. Remember to fasten your seat belt!

12-04-13: John47
I suggested you drive quickly over speed bumps and see whether you need damping

Your analogy does not apply. The goals are quite different.

If a record has a warp, for example, the goal is to measure the groove modulations, not the size of the warp in the record. If the cartridge is impeded from moving up and down with the warp, then the measurement of the groove modulation will be grossly inaccurate. This also applies with lateral motion.
Loading the tonearm with mass, as Richardkrebs has advocated, increases inertia, and as the groove moves in and out, the increased resistance to lateral movement means that the cantilever will flex more and the measurement of the groove modulation will be impaired and inaccurate.

This is the fundamental principle upon which Bruce designed the LOW mass, decoupled counterweight ET2. Richardkrebs in this thread has advocated converting this tonearm into a very HIGH Mass arm. He also advocates removing the decoupling. These alterations add 60g to the effective mass of his ET2, increasing inertia and resistance to lateral motion by over 300% compared to a standard ET2.

These gross alterations will result in destroying the inherent advantages that the LOW mass ET2 offers in superior tracking and minimising distortion.
Numorous contributors to this thread have found that setting the arm up as per Bruces recommendations produces superior sound which is clearly audible.

Dover
"Loading the tonearm with mass, as Richardkrebs has advocated, increases inertia, and as the groove moves in and out, the increased resistance to lateral movement means that the cantilever will flex more and the measurement of the groove modulation will be impaired and inaccurate.

This is the fundamental principle upon which Bruce designed the LOW mass, decoupled counterweight ET2. Richardkrebs in this thread has advocated converting this tonearm into a very HIGH Mass arm. He also advocates removing the decoupling. These alterations add 60g to the effective mass of his ET2, increasing inertia and resistance to lateral motion by over 300% compared to a standard ET2.

These gross alterations will result in destroying the inherent advantages that the LOW mass ET2 offers in
superior tracking and minimising distortion."

This is what you wrote on date xx ..... take your pick.

Repetition is the sincerest form of flattery.

The HP manifold for my ET-Two 2.0 arm arrived from Bruce yesterday. After a much easier-than-anticipated swap out of the manifolds (simple thumb-push out and in), I cranked up the regulators to deliver 17 psi to the arm and settled in for a listening session that stretched into the wee hours of the morning and much of today.

To say that the HP manifold made a significant sonic improvement would be a colossal understatement. Each and every aspect of reproduction improved by a major step function. No need to specify micro/macro dynamics, impact of attack, clarity of decay, detail retrieval, low-frequency definition, warmth/richness, soundstage imaging/layering, space/air/transparency, or other descriptives. It simply improved them all and by a large margin. Night and day. REALISM!

Keep in mind that I had already recently upgraded the air supply system (Medo compressor, DIY surge tank, dual regulators, etc) and, while these were not revelatory until coupled with the HP manifold, surely all of those upgrades now contribute substantially to the overall result. I would be thrilled even had these upgrades cost 10 times what they actually did.

Many thanks to all of you on this thread, either by documenting these improvements here or by response to me directly, and especially to Frogman for providing advice, information, and the inspiration to achieve this elevated level of performance from my analog rig.

I am eager to rediscover the sound of my LP collection "as if for the first time".

Dave

Excellent! Congrats, Dave. Let me know when you are ready and I will send you the wire loom for a straight shot from cart clips to preamp to try. I think you will find that revelatory as well.