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 ?
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Ketchup,
I have played with titanium components on the ET2 some years ago. I overhauled a company that manufactured custom wheelchairs, including custom titanium frames, with custom brackets to meet individuals needs. Unfortunately titanium is very brittle to machine, it shatters very easily and I think you will find it difficult. As an aside titanium tube is not rigid, you can actually bend it by hand, but it does have fantastic damping qualities. I have a titanium arm tube sitting around somewhere, but have not used it.

With regard to the aluminium one piece gooseneck, mine is the same as Krebs, and I use it in an ET2 & aluminium arm tube with both MC ( Carnegie, Koetsu, Denon 103 ) & MM ( Shure V15Vxmr with brush removed ). I have never had stridency from my ET2.
Bear in mind my ET2 aluminium arm tube has had the foam & shrink wrap removed, the teflon insert in the headshell removed and replaced with carbon fibre. I also run a loose decoupled counterweight ( tuned with teflon bushes ) that is much lossier than the standard spring for both MM & MC. Frogman has trialled this and attained the same benefits of quicker and more transparent bottom end ( literally more notes in his system ).
So my suggestion to Chris if he wants to run an MM in the ET2.5 with the aluminium gooseneck would be to try loosening off the counterweight nut and lower the overall horizontal mass ( above FR ). If you back the nut off and then dial it in slowly whilst listening to the changes you can tune the counterweight motion quite precisely, even more so if you put a tiny wedge either side of the spring to control the motion ( I used teflon ).
Dover.
Very interested in seeing a photo of the Aluminium goose neck and the titanium wand if you can find it.
I'm sure others would like to see these photos, of the goose neck at least, posted here as well.
Dover,

I would also love to see some pictures.

Why did you remove the foam from the aluminum arm tube, and could you detect a difference?

I just got my vinyl rig up and running but the tweaker in me is already thinking about the next move. I'm currently using an ET-2 with the aluminum arm tube and a Denon DL-103R. I think the Denon would work better with the higher mass magnesium arm wand, which I have on an unused ET-2.5. Does anyone have any experience with the Denon DL-103 on both the aluminum and magnesium arm wands?

It's too bad the forum is so archaic. This might have been covered in this thread already, but it's virtually impossible to search it.
Dear ET friends,

I've just bought a used ET 2 arm with an old Goldmund Studio (which I'm restoring to look like new, it was damaged badly)

I've bought a 50litre compressor to run the arm, but this is all brand new to me, any other advice would be most welcome.

Biggest question is what cartridge would work on the ET2 with Goldmund, I use a homebuilt Nuvista valve headamp, based on Conrad Johnson, Counterpoint SP 7 valve preamp, 250watt Mossfet power amps driving stacked double Dahlquist.

I've had great success & many years of pleasure from Goldmund Studietto with VdHul MC 10, so I'm tempted by the Colibri XPM or similar as there are special deals on offer, but I've read many conflicting reports & warnings against Colibri on a linear tracking arm.

Its the best sounding modern cartridge I've heard, but very high risk, I can only afford one cartridge which should last for many years, so really can't make a mistake on this. My old MC 10 has been retipped once, still sounds stunning after 27 years... thats what I'm hoping for on ET 2.

Does anyone have experience with Colibri on ET 2 arm please?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Dear ET friends,

I've just bought a used ET 2 arm with an old Goldmund Studio (which I'm restoring to look like new, it was damaged badly)

I've bought a 50litre compressor to run the arm, but this is all brand new to me, any other advice would be most welcome.

Biggest question is what cartridge would work on the ET2 with Goldmund, I use a homebuilt Nuvista valve headamp, based on Conrad Johnson, Counterpoint SP 7 valve preamp, 250watt Mossfet power amps driving stacked double Dahlquist.

I've had great success & many years of pleasure from Goldmund Studietto with VdHul MC 10, so I'm tempted by the Colibri XPM or similar as there are special deals on offer, but I've read many conflicting reports & warnings against Colibri on a linear tracking arm.

Its the best sounding modern cartridge I've heard, but very high risk, I can only afford one cartridge which should last for many years, so really can't make a mistake on this. My old MC 10 has been retipped once, still sounds stunning after 27 years... thats what I'm hoping for on ET 2.

Does anyone have experience with Colibri on ET 2 arm please?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.