Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Hi Harry

it was not imagined

This is not one of those audio tweaks that has audiophiles divided on forums on whether it works or not. It can not be imagined as we are making actual physical changes to the firmness of the I Beam, and also changes resonances. Trust me you will not be imagining things when you attempt the Triple Leaf Spring I Beam.

The Blue Tac does go against design - along with making things firmer it is also dampening / deadening from my experiences, so I would be very interested in finding out how it changes when you insert the actual double leaf spring I Beam that Bruce is sending you. I am a big stickler to staying with design and getting the most out of the designers intentions. With that Bruce told me years ago...." Yeah go ahead and load up the I beam with as much weight as you can ....as close to the air bearing as possible ....see what happens.... at some point you will bottom out the bearing."
So he is all for experimentation. :^)

I was going through some trying times and audiophilia nervosa was safe and helping me deal with things. So I got the extra weights from the car tire shop and molded them. They throw the old ones out so they were free. The look on their faces when I took a few was priceless. The same look the Wal Mart employee gave me when I bought the local store out of Blue Tac to fill the hollow Pillars of the VPI TNT to ........see what would happen.

Regarding Bruce’ comments.

He was a little skeptical of three springs and had concerns it "would not last."

Yeah, I mentioned earlier that tracking will be difficult but...... IMO, you still need the triple I beam so that you can personally get to understand what the limits of tracking are in your setup. fwiw - I am of the mindset and believe, not just for this hobby but all of them; in going a little past the limit to see what can be done. As long as you are not hurting anything, you can always come back a bit. In this case maybe settling on the double spring I Beam. I am using the double spring w/out damping right now.

I stopped drinking wine. I think the protein in it was keeping me up in the middle of the night. So beer and the occasional whiskeys now.

Hi Chris,
Bruce's I Beams arrived today!  Contrary to what I previously advised, when I removed my single, spring beam it did have some type of damping material on either side of the spring. What appear to be small rectangular pieces of plastic or rubber.
I started by attaching the new, triple spring beam.  Very nice improvement and I detected no tracking issues.  I listened for a while and then swapped for the double spring beam.  While not huge, the triple spring had audibly tighter bass.  I put the triple spring beam back on and played some very dynamic stuff which revealed no tracking issues.  Finally, I dug out my ancient Shure cartridge test record.  It has several bands to test Trackability.  Again, no tracking error detected.  Soooo, at least on my rig the triple spring works the best.

I would not have believed such seemingly small tweaks could bring such huge rewards.  I have increased air pressure moved the weights out to almost the 6 position and installed the new springs.  Each of these changes brought significant improvement.  

I can't thank you enough for all the suggestions.  You have helped me bring my system to a whole new level.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not comment on the overall quality of your ET forum.  I have read many audio forums over the years.  Many often degenerate into arguments over whether tubes are better than transistors, belt drive beats direct drive, or even politics.  Not so your forum, just honest observations and tips to help contributors and readers find true enjoyment from their music.
Harry
P.S. Tubes are better.😉🎶

P.P.S.  Chris,  I didn't respond to your blu tac question.  I didn't notice any deadening with blu tac on the single spring plank. Having said that, with three springs and no blu tac things tightened up further.  This setup is, however, ruthless.  If it's a bad recording it's really bad.  Bright recordings are VERY bright.  But muddy recordings are very muddy too.

^^^^

Hi Harry

your comments above could describe going to a different design speaker. :^)

Who are these people that say the source is not amongst the most important in the audio chain ? Try pulling this one off with digital; with such a small change to the source setup.

This setup is, however, ruthless.

Your Lyra uses a

Namiki microridge line-contact nude diamond stylus (2.5um x 75um)

see Soundsmith comments that follow below asterisks.

I am reading into your comments that your ET2 with the 3 spring setup and the Lyra Delos is pretty much dissecting your albums now. Good ones - sound amazing. Not good ones - can no longer be listened to? Not great if you are a music lover with many albums.

Have you tried lowering VTA on the bright sounding ones and raising it on the muddy sounding ? Records, even same thickness ones are cut at different vertical angles depending on the plant they were made at. This is covered in detail by Bruce in the manual. The ET2 happens to be the only tonearm in the world (due to patent) that adjusts VTA without changes to anything else in the alignment (like VTF). (if the VTA block is set up right)

I think from a pure groove tracking sense your ET2 with the triple leaf spring is set up for Indy 500 Oval right now. If records were made the same and uniform physically like CD’s; this would work better. But the records and grooves are more like the races that go through cities. Each one is very different. I think, along with VTA adjustments, you will need some cushioning/damping.

So will be interested to hear how things change with first the double spring suspension, and also VTA changes.

**********************************

From Soundsmith describes styli on your cartridge.

http://www.sound-smith.com/articles/stylus-shape-information

Then, there are the "fine line" styli, including standard Contact Line, as well as the more esoteric evolutions such as Shibata, Micro Line or Ridge, Optimized Contour Contact Line (Soundsmith) and so on. These are almost always nudes, for lowest possible mass. These designs have a sharper edge (radius) that play the record groove walls, which allows better high frequency reproduction (especially at the inner grooves where it is more difficult) resulting in lower distortion, better imaging, depth, and many other aspects of fine analog listening that are lost when the high frequencies are not resolved as well - usually by lower quality stylus shapes.

The higher end designs, however, require far more precise alignment than the lower quality shapes, for what should be obvious reasons. It is easier to align a rounded end to a groove than a V shaped end. Alignment issues for both rotating off a vertical imaginary line in the groove looking end on, as well as tilting front to back along the groove become far more critical for proper tracing of the groove.

Then there are noise and wear issues. Conicals statistically trace less surface area of the groove wall, so can theoretically pick up less record damage (unless they trace an area where there HAS been lots of wear or damage) and can pick up fewer sonic bursts from defects or noise from dirt or other foreign objects in the groove. But the wear factor is higher (faster) for both the record and styli. Alignment considerations however, are much easier to achieve. But far poorer high frequency response. For analog, that’s bad.

Conversely, the fine line designs require records that are in better condition and cleaner to be played mainly noise free. But the reward for playing a good clean undamaged record with a properly aligned fine line diamond and quality cartridge cannot be overly described in terms of enjoyment.

******************

Curious to know how your wife is dealing with your newfound tweaking/ hot-rodding behavior as you are in a shared space ?
Chris

Hello Chris,
Thanks again for the extra tips.  I'm going to do some more listening before I go back to the double spring plank.   I'm just starting to play with VTA after many years.  Before these latest improvements I really could hear only a subtle difference in VTA changes, if any.  I just played the Analog Productions pressing of Sonny Rollins "Way Out West".  Contrary to some other records I have played, it sounded a little thicker than I remembered it.  I dialed in some VTA (post down) and it thinned out/tightened up.  Soooo, with my improvements I can now detect the VTA adjustments.  Lyra recommends arm perfectly level to platter claiming proper VTF wil result in proper VTA.   This is a little counterintuitive since it does not take into account different record thicknesses and different cutting angles.  

If I can't tame some of the brighter records with VTA I'll try some damping.  I am, indeed, a music lover with about 1500 LPs.  Not near your collection but significant.  I have very eclectic taste including pop, country, folk, blues, but mostly jazz and almost no hard rock.  Preferred listening is jazz quartets and trios and female vocals.  I am a huge Keth Jarrett and Bill Evans fan.  Early Miles and Coultrane.  I don't do drugs so I can't follow their later stuff.

The wife has pretty much abandoned the living room to me except when we have company and at bed time when I frequently hear "Can you turn that down a little."

I'll report back after more extended listening and VTAing.
Thanks, 
Harry