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
Dear ct0517: Yes, I remember the first time that I saw that very good picture and was my wife who took my attention about.

Obviously that tha beautiful house is a house where the owner likes music and know what this means in a home audio system ( I'm talking not of RR but the real owner. ).

IMHO, the ET tonearm is today an icon/sign in the audio history.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.
Hi All
I have just finished testing a precision pressure regulator in the air supply for the arm.
I replaced a Norgren B07-201-A1KG reg with a Norgren 11-818-101
Findings in my rig...,

Was there an improvement? Yes. Things were a little clearer, more three dimensional and impactful.
A big change? No, but worthwhile.
All comparative testing was done when the compressor had cycled off, drawing air from the reservoir only.
The old reg has a built in filter/water seperator the new reg doesn't, so a seperate filter/ seperator was also installed before the new reg. So technically two things were changed.
Did this have an impact on the results?
Maybe 
Whatever, the new configuration is staying firmly in place.
The bleed off needle valves before and after the reg, that I posted some time ago, were retained and their beneficial impact confirmed.
It shows all over again that the arm is very sensitive to the quality of the air supply. 

Cheers 




RichardKrebs
It shows all over again that the arm is very sensitive to the quality of the air supply.


Richard - obvious agreement from me. I got sidetracked for a number of years (elapsed time) in my Audiophile phase PUMP journeys. 
Where does one stop ? It can be addicting. I did learn a lot about how different pump technologies work though.

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I think it is worth noting for newer readers, a couple important thread quotes from Bruce on Air Supply and Setting Manifold PSI Values.  

1) Air Supply (Quality - PSI and Mositure/Dirt)  

Bruce Thigpen
More than air pressure, the air supply will change the sound of the tonearm. if it is bad, allowing pressure pulsations to enter the manifold. Increasing pressure slightly and a big enough surge tank are the best things that could be added to the tonearm in terms of performance.

The key words to me from Bruce is increase pressure slightly, and it implies one knows what PSI your ET2 manifold was built for. If someone buys an ET2 on the used market we have discussed here how to find out the PSI/Bar it was designed for. As a guideline if a regular manifold - 3 psi. If a High Pressure manifold 8-10 psi unless it was a Custom Build. Once consistent PSI is achieved (think pulsations), the big other factor is moisture and dirt.

What helped me understand how important this moisture and dirt were, was to think about air brush painting and what happens if dirt/moisture get in the air line for the person doing the spraying.  Now I don't air brush myself but there are many air brush painting forums to get an understanding.  

For me personally. 
My Timeter pump is designed for keeping people/patients comfortable. It therefore has controls that allow me to vary the moisture being sent out as it has an integral drying system. The pump is affected by humidity and going from very dry winter air, to humid spring/summer air forces me to make pump adjustments to the level of drying.

I have found in my room on a few occasions during the season change from winter to spring (going dry to humid)  I could have been listening to digital for a while, then switched to vinyl, the system itself is warmed up;  at times the vinyl sounded wrong. Almost how reproduced music in a room can sound with cold solid state gear if you know what I mean. When the music sounds like this, it makes me think of wires and the gear. Not the music at all. 

Going to the pump I notice the dryness level needle has dropped some so I need to crank up the dryness factor a bit on the pump. So the PSI was just fine but there was some moisture in the air line - it affected the sound. And this is moisture "vapor" that is hard to be trapped by filters. Again the air brush forums help to get an understanding of this. Our audio expectation is nice music we enjoy. Their expectation is the finish on their painted product. Its all visual. For those running with tanks of compressed air - don't forget to drain the water in the tank before using (bringing the tank to its PSI level). My Timeter Aridyne pump is tankless.

The fact of the matter is if you live in a hot, humid place (I wish I was there now) you will have more challenges with air supply than the guy in a drier, colder environment.  So many environmental factors can affect the sound that are never discussed on Audiophile forums. 

2) Setting the Manifold PSI on ET 2.0 and 2.5 for specific customer requirements.

In the past customers have had Bruce design the manifold PSI for their pump's specific requirements. This is discussed on the Eminent Technology website when one is looking to buy the tonearm, as the pump system is not supplied with tonearm when you purchase it.

Bruce Thigpen

The pressure drop across the set screws define the restoring force and part of the stiffness of the air bearing.

The tolerance between the Manifold Inner Diameter and the Spindle Outer Diameter determines the lifting pressure as a function of flow rate through the set screw. Without a restoring force or pressure drop across the set screw, the bearing will lock up, so you always need a higher air pressure in the manifold housing as compared to the pressure at the surface of the spindle.

The high pressure manifolds have a slightly tighter tolerance between the spindle and manifold, they also use a set screw with more plating to restrict the air flow around the threads to create the increased pressure drop (the difference between the pressure in the manifold housing and the pressure at the surface of the spindle).

It does not hurt to slide the spindle in the manifold bore without air, the resistance you feel may be the surface finish roughness on the hard coat anodizing as well as tolerance.

I hope this helps, thank you very much.

-brucet


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Fnding the ET2 Yellow Sticky Thread Posts.

Here's the ET2 thread Yellow Sticky for the setting of manifold PSI values

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/eminent-technology-et-2-tonearm-owners/post?highlight=et2%2By...

The new Audiogon system allows one to find the Yellow Sticky Posts on this ET2 thread easily now.

Just enter Yellow Sticky in the forums search field.

Chris.

I can relate to the water in the air comment.

Here in Auckland, New Zealand, it gets pretty humid in the summer months. Many years ago I was listening with a few Friends and we all commented on the sound quality being sub par. It was put down to the high humidity pulling down the bias voltage on the stats, a known issue. But then the ET locked up and it began spitting out water. Quite shocking to see this in action.

I have used a water separator and drainable tank ever since that night.


cheers .   



But then the ET locked up and it began spitting out water.


8^0

I have known of some people who pull off the air hose at the manifold casing - pour some isopropyl down the tube - reconnect and start up the air. This must be the equivalent of drinking home made Slivovitch. (google it). Anyone reading pls take the manifold apart and clean per the manual if needed.

I was lucky with my ET tonearm water incident. I casually looked over and saw the water trap bowl was what looked like 3/4 full ! Normally there is nothing there as the timeter drains all moisture. The nozzle on the drain tube on the timeter pump had plugged up and was not exhausting water any more so water starting going down the airline. Soaking the exhaust nozzle in CLR fixed it.

Actually, the same sort of thing happened to my wife’s car. She found the passenger side footwell soaked one day. Turns out pine needles/leaves entered and blocked the AC drain tube on her car - entered from passenger side front windshield area. Dealer wanted to charge me an hours labor to fix it so I took off the footwell carpeting/panel and saw the the drain hose coming through and exiting below the floor. Pulled it out, used wire and blew out debris with air. 


high humidity pulling down the bias voltage on the stats, a known issue.


Richard
I learned about this about 5 years ago, The Quad 57’s were kept in a Toronto space with no air conditioning / humidity control in summer. The first time I experienced it I thought they were Kaput. I spoke with Ken at Electrostatic Solutions who explained the phenomena to me. They left that space shortly after that and came home. The other interesting thing I learned from Ken going by memory, is that the the Quad 63’s and 57’s are opposite builds. The 57’s are actually a hardy build in comparison to the 63’s in regards to humidity; even though high humidity can make them sound like transistor radios it doesn’t hurt them. The Quad 63’s in a couple years of high humidity will self destruct/fall apart.