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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Raul - from personal experience in my room when you have multiple bass drivers, one positioned high near the ceiling and one low - pointed at the listener. The effect of the output from the woofers is that the bass waves cancel each other out. The sound is much smoother, bass notes stop and start quicker. There are no standing waves.

It costs a lot to do this type of speaker design, they are tall and substantial for the top woofer to reach high and for the cabinetry to be able to hold the weight. They are very imposing in the room. If a manufacturer makes this type of speaker they are usually their flagship line. Not many made like this anymore
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Remember subs main/primary premise is not to have deeper bass or " boom boom " but better quality overall system performance with lower distortions!.

Well the job of the subwoofer is to reproduce low frequencies. In most cases, the bottom two octaves, from 20Hz to ....the higher frequency varies for each persons room. Now I believe in all designs (someone correct me if I am wrong in this assumption) the least distortion for any design, will be when the sub is working the least - IMO.

When it is working is triggered by when it has been set to kick on (the frequency), and how loud it has been set to play at when it kicks on. This second part is IMO key (how loud it has been set for), especially if someone is using One subwoofer. let me explain.
   
If anyone owns one subwoofer and you want to learn how clean it can play - lowest distortion try this experiment with one subwoofer.

Place it a few feet to the left or the right of your listening position. If it used to be on the other side of the room, change the dial on the phase control 180 degrees to start.
Start playing your music; if the sub used to be close to your main speakers on the other side of the room, you will need to turn the db level of the sub down at least 60 - 70%.
Set it up for your music. You will not be able to tell that it is next to you. In fact you can play a game with your audio friends. 
Camouflage the sub with a nice cover. Let your friends sit in your chair, start playing music and ask your friends to tell you where the sub is located. They will point to a far corner somewhere. They will be surprised when you tell them it is 3 feet beside them. try it ...

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True Story

Two weeks ago my 22 year old son comes over with his truck.  As it pulls into the driveway, I was able to can hear the vehicle thumping with bass from before he entered the driveway. Fed up I told him we are going to try something. For the record this vehicle comes with decent stock stereo (for car stereo ) I think sourced from Alpine and has a nice big cabin (Room). He has added a JL Audio amp/controls under the passenger seat, and two JL Audio Drivers under the back seat in a long custom box. The first thing I noticed was that his stock sub was still on. Why? It was redundant and competing with the JL Audios. We went to the dash and turned off the vehicles stock sub. I then reached down under the passenger seat where the controls were - I turned the frequency the sub kicked in, a little lower and turned the db level from 6 ! ....to 3. I asked him to play some music. He could not believe it. I can now hear the bass he commented. I felt good but it was short lived. Couple days ago he asked if I could show him how to turn it back the way it was, just so he could learn how to do it. I think its one of these things when guys get together that your vehicle needs to be thumping. :^(

Chris,

A while back you posted a link to some cool pics of Redford using a TNT/ET Two rig in the movie "Indecent Proposal".

Check this setup out:

http://www.symposiumusa.com/images/PCwRBJRLARGE.jpg

Ever seen anything like this?

Best to you Chris,
Dave
Hi Dave

that link shows quite the elaborate effort.

It appears from the pic to be a string driven first platter, which is then connected to the main platter as a rim drive ? You can tell the tension of the string is pretty taut as mechanical bearings are being used. The VPI TT feet shown are now just dummies? as the TT is being supported by the symposium footers.

From personal experience the stock TNT, even though it was designed for the original ET2;  is the bottleneck with a properly set up ET2. In fact this is the case with all turntables I have owned.  I say this because each time my TNT and other TT setups improved, they just took the ET 2.0 and 2.5 to new levels.

I still do think these pics looks cool....

http://imcedb.com/images/1/1c/Indecent_turntable.png

http://imcedb.com/images/1/12/Indecent_stereo.png

Give some thread to Robert Redford, a better speed controller and that turntable setup will change the way he listens to his music.

Notice the FWFO** ET2 weights setup in the second picture link above.
**Fewest Weights Furthest Out = Highest Vertical Inertia

What does concern me with the second pic is that there doesn't appear to be any climate control. Look to the left of Robert Redford. Appears to be wide open to the elements. I think this is what we can call operating that air bearing under extreme conditions. The sound will change with a tropical storm. :^)

Only in the movies as they say.

Cheers Chris

Hi Chris,

I think the feet in the pic from the link I posted, if rigid, are maybe used in conjuction with the Symposium footers, perhaps for improved weight distribution or additional vibration transfer/absorption. I really like the piece under the bearing housing.  I may inquire about that.

BTW - I posted a better (I think?) explanation of the Empire 4000 D/III cartridge orientation on my system page in case you didn't see it...

I have been playing with a used Sony SCD-XA5400ES SACD/CD player with good results on premium SACD material. I have a Modwright-version of this player headed my way soon.  High hopes for this Modwright player as my final digital front-end based on listening to the stock unit and the raves, both in reviews and from friends, about the Modwrighted unit's sonic performance.

In the pursuit of my TOTL SACD material, I found this:

http://www.stockfisch-records.de/pages_art/sf12_dmmcd_e.html#text

They use a DMM master played as an LP on a cutting lathe with an EMT arm/cartridge to feed the recording/mastering equipment.  The Vol 1 sampler delivers the best sound I have ever heard, even using the Redbook layer on my Ayre CDP, including, yes, my analog rig. 8^O
The SACD layer is even better.

Best to you Chris,
Dave
Hi Dave

my kids have been asking me for a lot of music lately, from all over the place. I don't mean different genres. I mean the cd's were all over the place, in my rooms. I have come to the realization that I am a terrible filer of music,
but also that I am a pretty good listener :^)   I somehow know where i put these things down and they can be found.  But if I am looking for music that was not played in a while, or I filed it away to get it off the table or floor. Good Luck.

So I got fed up looking for these things, and ripped that music too, to the external hard drive. These days all my digital is on files and is played

external hard drive >>> dedicated laptop >>>>> DAC8

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re the stockfisch link. - thanx for the link. Just a comment on their summary.

With critical listening tests, this combination has proven to us to be the optimal chain when it comes to obtaining a sound as close as possible to the master.

I would add "in this room" to the end of that statement.  Just my opinion. 

There are just too many variables in each of our rooms to ignore it (the Room).

I posted a reply to the Empire cart on your virtual system.

Cheers Chris