Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

- ct0517: It's interesting what you quote about the wire loom. While radial tonearms have the advantage of leverage on the point where the wire exits the tonearm tube and enters the base (tube), the distance is short, and the wires are somehow uncontrollable in their movement, so they are inclined to rub / stick / jump - and this "out of sight". The latter problem is nonexistent in tangential arms, if the wires are properly arranged. Thales' Micha Huber prefers *very* thin wires (ca. 0.07mm), probably to have the arm movement as free as possible. If this is necessary "even" with radial arms, not even a trace of a problem will remain regarding freedom of movement will remain with such wires for tangential arms either. IMO even two twisted 0.15mm wires, carefully arranged, do not create a problem.
- Dover: The silk wires are interesting, as these have much more electrostatic "field" surface covered with natural insulation than the compared solid core wire, this might (on sinister or twisted paths) affect RF sensitivity...
Somehow a "better" insulation with thinner litz wires should be "capable" of better radio reception :-/ ;-) In this case: The opposite!
Isn't reality from time to time baffling us?
Actually it's more of a surprise if we actually and really *know* something for sure.
- Decca: I had a first try yesterday with a artisanally rebuilt Decca, in the Garrot tradition. Yes, it's still a bit of a hassle concerning hum and screening. My 1.25m unscreened solid core wires are too long, but the hum with one phono stage we compared yesterday was quite acceptable even in my suboptimal situation (the Lehmann Audio Black Cube).
The first results are extremely impressive - in a truly musical way. This cartridges liquidity, high resolution, ambience retrieval (not 1:1 = big spaces) and grainfree transparency is *hugely* impressive!
Yes, there is a slight upper mid forwardness (but still in the range of "realistic") and yes, there is a certain upper limit in tracing (now, in my present setup), which is slightly modulated by the very low horizontal LF resonance (not yet damped enough). I will experiment with different spring / counterweight settings.
Still my rebuilt Koetsu Black is - as yet - more general purpose, and extremely natural too, and as yet it traces better.
- Phono stages, in short: The Black Cube is good enough by far to show off the superb qualities of the Decca. It seems to sound better on MM than MC and it's good. The Lehmann was a trace gray on MC, but well organised, generally transparent, dynamically stable and transparent. I had some issues with the Koetsu on high level historical horns (on fff).
. The same issue on blasting horns did arise with an austrian phono stage from pure dynamics. This one was very good, transparent and open, with very good stage in all dimensions. The bass was very good too, and it was fuss free in setup. (It costs around or below 1000$)
. The real stunner was an older LFD MM0, same circuit as the LFD Mistral and later basic LFD phono stages (but with a much beefier power supply). While I had a big issue with some intermittent RF signals ( ;-), probably radar, it was truly superb in timbre, agility, space, musicality and dynamics with a very natural, open bass. My feeling is that the LFDs phono stages might be considerably underrated in the press.
. My Audio Synthesis Passion phono had probably an issue with the supply connections, resulting in a not typical slightly opaque and undedamped quality in the bass, and a slight haze. The Passion Phono was still very transparent and true to instrument characteristics with wide and high stage, depth was a bit shortened probably by the mentioned issue. Generally and over long years this is a superb Phono stage.

Pegasus

"Somehow a "better" insulation with thinner litz wires should be "capable" of better radio reception :-/ ;-) "

"While I had a big issue with some intermittent RF signals ( ;-), probably radar "

You are one funny guy Pegasus. :^)

So much possible comedic material when analyzing audiophilia.

I would pay to go see you perform it at Just For Laughs.

The real fun in research is the reality. It has a certain from time to time recurring character trait of disrespecting the holy truth of any hypothesis. Without that, life would be pontifical s***. :-)

Regarding RF: It was only a problem with one phono stage, that might have some issue in the power supply (while still sounding very impressive). The power supply is one of the places where rectification "happens" (yes, it does), the others are nonlinearities in active devices or shaky contacts. No problem even with ca. 1.5m of twisted non screened solid core wires. That's my experience in the context of my system.
Very important: I compared the phonostages with a superb insulation transformer that does a lot (by sounding like less devices in the signal path).
I placed a Stadler air cleaner / ionizer in my listening room, that ran for very few hours (1-2) but was unplugged while listening. After experimenting ca. three weeks with "high quality" water in a humidifier which improved the "atmosphere" or energy but made the sound somewhat dull. The results with the ionizer are amazing: Remarkably more full and transparent - and no charged LPs... !!
We suspected already during an earlier listening sessions, that the slowly increasing amount of dry air exiting the tonearm creates - a lot! - of static charge on the vinyl surfaces. And it had a considerable effect sonically. The ionizer, building up a certain reserve of air ions (smells also a bit like Ozone), seems to eliminate this problem. Hmmm...

The Decca continues to amaze - fantastic! And this already with the Lehmann Black Cube... :-)

Pegasus - The power supply is one of the places where rectification "happens" (yes, it does),

Rectification is a really good word - ET2 thread readers Quiz Question :^)

What is the best meaning of rectification for this audio thread ?

a. the act of offering an improvement to replace a mistake; setting right
b. the conversion of alternating current to direct current
c. the process of refinement or purification of a substance by distillation
d. determination of the length of a curve; finding a straight line equal in length to a given curve

Pegasus - Regarding RF: It was only a problem with one phono stage, that might have some issue in the power supply (while still sounding very impressive).

Some thoughts with my coffee (black) :^)

Interesting - when I think power supply I think Transformers - Toroidal and EI - This is the one of the big secrets IMO , well, as well as not living next door to a neighbor running an underground radio station; to setting up unshielded phono wires with no noise/hum.

How about looking at the perspective of the phono stage. Which is better ?

Toroidal transformer.

Major advantage is that they do not radiate much magnetic field. James Bond prefers this type of transformer. :^)

EI transformer.

Radiate a significant magnetic field from the exposed windings. Low level phono audio signals and gain stages prior to the output stage of amplifiers are small enough, I think, in strength, that if they pass through a decent sized magnetic field, will cause hum in what you hear out of the speaker.

What about amplifiers.
Should we choose Toroidal transformer or EI power transformers in amps, preamps, phono stages ?

My amplifiers are always quite a distance from the preamp/phono stage. I have seen setups where audiophiles cram everything into one rack or closed in space.

So what type of transformer is used in your Amplifier ?
Does it use an EI transformers ?
Is it anywhere near your phono stage ?

Here is a fun video that was shown on the Discovery Channel.

Making McIntosh Tube Amp

Watch how they make the transformers starting at the 2:00 minute mark . Do you think you will be able to use unshielded wires if this amplifier is placed near your phono stage setup ? James Bond you have your work cut out for you. I think maybe we will need to bring back Sean Connery for this effort ?

btw - myself, I am not feeling good about how they make the transformers and also in this video toward the end; how they join the inside guts to the outside jacks. By solder on a circuit board ? Another discussion ! No more coffee for me .....

(D), of course. Although, (A) is pretty general and applicable; the ET2 has corrected mistakes found in other arm designs.

However, and a bit of a stretch to be sure, but (B) the function of a surge tank can be said to convert the pulses in the airstream of a pump (alternating current) to a smooth airstream (direct current). Moreover, and an even bigger stretch, a desiccant air filter can be said to refine (C) the air (substance) through distillation. So, yes, rectification is a good word. Wait, this is a trick question.....

Some thoughts with my wine (red, and probably too much of it) :^)

My amps' transformers? EI, all the way. However, being monoblocs they are a good distance from my front end (via 15' ics). My phono preamp uses a toroidal and is much closer..

What did my wife do with that last bottle of Malbec? :-)