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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 ?
128x128ct0517
bigalt
14 posts
 
Slaw
The arm was lowered onto a spinning Blank ( no grooves at all ) record and the leveling screws adjusted until there was no drift in either direction. I know this method is not appropriate for pivoted tone arms but it seemed it should be OK for air bearing tangential tonearms. If there are reasons not to use this method I'd appreciate the information.
richardkrebs
422 posts
 
Bigalt

Wouldnt your process potentially take the spindle out of parallel with the record surface?
This would mean that the tracking angle would change as the cartridge traverses the record.
Not a good thing.
dover
2,243 posts
 
06-04-15: Richardkrebs
Wouldnt your process potentially take the spindle out of parallel with the record surface?
This would mean that the tracking angle would change as the cartridge traverses the record.
Richardkrebs,
"tracking angle" does not apply to the ET2 as it is a tangential tracking tonearm. "Tracking angle" only applies to pivoted arms. The correct terminology if I interpret what you are trying to say is Azimuth may be out. It appears that you are suggesting Bigalts azimuth may be out, notwithstanding that if his platter is level, and he levels the arm, then assuming the wand is mounted correctly, it is not possible for the azimuth to be out, unless the stylus is not mounted in the cantilever correctly..
bigalt
14 posts
 
If the record is perfectly level then I don't see how my method would take the spindle out of level with the record surface but would make sure the spindle was level with the record. If the record is level the stylus should drift in or out out if the spindle isn't level. If the spindle is parallel with the record surface but the platter and record surface isn't level I believe that this would cause the stylus to drift in or out depending whether the spindle was higher or lower than the edge of the platter.
richardkrebs
422 posts
 
Dover.

For the sake of brevity I left the word "vertical" of the tracking angle. Pretty sure that this adjustment is applicable to a linear arm.
My point was...if the spindle is NOT parallel with the platter, the VTA will change as the arm moves across the record.

Bigalt.

Agree 100% a level platter and a level spindle go hand in hand. Perhaps I misinterpreted your earlier post. I took it to read that you make this adjustment from time to time. Assuming that the plinth is not in some way distorting over time, I would expect this adjustment to be a set and forget one. Thereafter any shift in level of the whole TT system, say with seasonal movement of the floor/wall, would be corrected by re-levelling the whole TT.
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