Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

****Instead one hears more of the structure of sound, and listens into the quality of instruments *and playing* quite a lot easier.****

Precisely. And speaking of instruments, this relates to what is being discussed and, while perhaps saying the same thing, approaches the issue more strictly from the "resonance" angle:

The saxophone and all woodwind instruments incorporate a series of levers and keys which remain open or closed due to the tension of a designated metal needle spring. Each key will remain in its "natural state" (open or closed) until the downward pressure of the player's fingers reverses it's natural state; either closes or opens it. The tension of each spring can be altered either by bending the spring a certain amount during the instrument's "setup" process or simply by using a lighter or heavier spring. The instrument will sound (and certainly feel to the player) more tonally coherent and with a more "right" timbre (which will affect even the perceived intonation (!)) if all the springs (upwards of twenty) have the same or similar tension.

Frogman - I discovered the benefits of simply mulching the leaves with my riding mower.

Frogman, being the accomplished musician you are, I am having a hard time visualizing you on the back of a John Deere. this is most likely due to my own biases/prejudices. Do you wear audiophile approved ear plugs ?

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Frogman - The instrument will sound (and certainly feel to the player) more tonally coherent and with a more "right" timbre (which will affect even the perceived intonation (!)) if all the springs (upwards of twenty) have the same or similar tension.

Is getting all springs with similar tension a routine task... and do some manufacturers of an instrument like the Saxophone make this easier to do than others ? Curious..

Speaking of biases.

Two of my uncles played the different saxes, clarinet and flute. One of them happened to also be the music teacher at my middle school. In Grade 6 or 7 ?, I got handed this instrument by him with a bunch of piping. I was told to go learn it as the first performance was in 4 weeks for the band. At the time I remember thinking, this thing sure wasn't as cool as the trumpet, sax, or drums. It was the trombone. So I learned everything about the Bass Clef with it. Little did I know that the years that followed playing it, would influence my biases toward music from that point forward, still to today. I tend to put a bias on bass, whether live, amplified or not, and when I listen at home to full range material, I am therefore of the opinion that if you can get the bass right in a room, the rest will fall into place. More to follow on bass management... I need to go rake up some leaves.

Not sure if this has been brought before.
I read a post on Audio Asylum about the manifold mount and how flimsy it is. The guy found the right height and then built a new mount out of ebony. I simply used a piece of wood and wedged it under the manifold. This made a huge change in the soundstage and overall quality of the system.
Tim

Yes frogman & CT0517 on a John Deere, what nice illustration of Americana seen the other way :-) It shurely tunes bass sensitivity, although only in a limited interval range...
Regarding "spit", isn't what most lay people (ie. the non-blowing family members too) think it is. It's mainly distilled vapour from the lungs, with maybe a bit of sulfur molecules here and nitrogen mol. there. But not much spit, I think. At least not anymore after one played two or three years.
I call my baritone sax my personal distillery. But the bowed neck (?) of a bass clarinet works already nicely as such.
Regarding trombone: This is a really great instrument! (And - ha! Ray Anderson will play november 11 in our concert program! :-) The instrument is extremely powerful in a seductive way, a lot of colours and expressive. Must be fun to play with this huge tool-box.
It's funny you mention this aspect, of first getting the fundament right, the rest then falling in place: If I'm asked about what defines the quality of a well set up ET2 (or even more a ET2.5) it is the "full-range" sound from the *lows* up, surrounded by a lot of air in the bass (first): Bass ambience. Yes, it's also sublime upper ranges, but it starts with a lucid, airy bass range with a high resolution of bass timbre & pitch.
It sounds "correct" by itself while not sounding tight-assed NFB correct.