Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

I remember Frogman and Banquo363 trying longer beams - but they made them out of wood so they didn't work out. The I beam needs to live and breathe (resonate/vibrate) like the cart, and should be matched to the vibrating cart. More springs on the I Beam make it firmer less compliant. so match it to a less compliant cart. This is what makes the ET2 unique over all other tonearms. Put it another way all other tonearms are 2d, compared to the ET2 with this added dimension; becomes 3d. Pro reviewers never figured this part out; being able match this tonearm to any cart that exists.

Whatever the length of the I Beam ...

Physics and our childhood memories, say the absolute best teeter totter ride is when both friends are of equal or close to each other in weight; and BOTH are sitting on the seat. Moving the weight forward of the seat for one of them, to balance unequal weights, and the ride is never as good.

So whatever the length of the I Beam ... I would be setting up (cutting) the longer modded I beam so the weights rest at the end of the plank just like the cartridge on the armtube side.

Very easy to test that one out.

Good memory, Chris. This was my post from 4+ (!) years ago:

++++ I have constructed an I beam (balsa wood) that uses a leaf spring from one of the regular ET I beams which allows me to to move the counterweights up to 6 inches from the spindle; although not the 7 inches that I implied. With my cartridges which are either medium compliance Vandenhuls or high compliance MM’s, the improvement in bass weight and detail is significant. One other way to experiment with moving the weight further from the spindle is by using the threaded brass weights on the threaded rod that secures the regular lead weights to the counterweight holder. This allows the weight to be further back, and effectively "extending" the I beam.

Speaking of the I beams, no one has mentioned the importance of experimenting with leaf springs of different compliances. I have three ET (plastic) I beams, each of a different compliance. The lower the compliance the more tightly focused the sound is. Higher compliance springs make the sound a little "bloomier", with an all around easier presentation. ++++

Since adding a pair of REL subs to my system I have revised my findings somewhat since, as has been pointed out, moving the weight back TOO MUCH can cause other problems. On balance, I love what the REL’s are doing for the sound, but with the extended I-beam I find it more difficult to integrate them in a way that sounds natural. I am currently not using it.

So glad to see all the recent activity on this thread. What a great tonearm this is! I never cease to be amazed at the genius behind this design and the fabulously natural sound that it yields. Chris should be commended for his excellent tutorials and advise. A couple of comments on recent discussions:

As was recently pointed out by Chris, as with the setup of a fine musical instrument, it’s all about resonances. With that in mind, I have found that a worthwhile setup detail is making sure that the bolts, adjustment and otherwise, and especially the bolts that secure the two end caps are not too tight which, if too tight, can actually deform the spindle and cause biding at the start and end of its trajectory in the manifold. But beyond that extreme what I am talking about (and I don’t think I am imagining this) is that when all the bolts are tightened "just enough" and with close to equal torque the sound seems to take on even more of that wonderful "this is what live music sounds like" quality that this arm gives like no other in my (limited) experience.

Chris, on a completely unrelated topic: you made me chuckle at the mention of your dog not being allowed downstairs. My beagle/lab shedding machine is not allowed in my studio, nor upstairs where the bedrooms are; although pet hair seems to find its way everywhere, even where the critters are not allowed. After being intrigued by these gizmos and not taking the plunge due to skepticism about whether they would actually work, we finally bought a (now two) robotic vacuums. It is not an exaggeration to say that they have been life changers. This one, which is actually one of the least expensive ones does an amazing job of keeping the floors where the pooch roams clean between full house cleanings, and consequently all other areas and surfaces stay noticeably cleaner as well. It was also a lot of fun watching Artie’s reaction to his new mechanical bud. Highly recommended. Regards.

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Frogman
re: Torquing of bolts. I own a few torque wrenches, big ones for auto + the mini torque wrenches we can use for this audio hobby. The issue I have with them is that the torque settings for these random bolts are meant for the nut/bolt, and not the part that they are holding in. The people who sell us these bolts have no idea what we are screwing them into. 
So along with what you were saying, there is this torque wrench in my head for this tonearm that has three settings - loose, snug and tight. I have never had anything go "loose" on the snug setting. But did crack the end cap many years ago on the tight setting. The most important bolt settings imo, are those that set the distance gap for the VTA bearing block.

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re:Cleaning robot.
I keep seeing these things in the flyers that come to the house. If I brought in that cleaning robot, turned it on and and let it go on our main floor I think I would have two different reactions, especially if a big purpose of the cleaning is to vacuum up the dog hairs. .

If my daughters RCA Victor dog "Lucky" was visiting, (half Mexican/half English) Chihuahua / Jack Russell mix. He wouldn't stop chasing and yapping at the thing. A very loving attention craving dog, but when he barks, he doesn't stop and it can get annoying. He also sheds like crazy but otherwise a good watch dog. Warns me when I am home alone, if the Kids and wife are within 200 feet from the house and approaching.

With Koaltar our black Lab, its the opposite reaction. He has not been running with me with over winter as I run on a treadmill, so he has put on a few pounds - probably gone from 76 to 80lbs. He would probably just lay in the middle of the floor and let the robot keep bouncing off of him like he does with Lucky. Oh the black hairs... and the main floor is a cream colored ceramic floor.  

If one could put two Koaltars beside ones listening chair, you would have significant damping taking place. Maybe even enough to require a need to change out a leaf spring. :^)

The hobby shop has the foot long gleaming white I beams. Was trying to imagine what the cat would be thinking if she got a look at it.
  
Curious to found out how John's stock 2 spring I Beam, compares to his modded I beam using the Mag wand.
Cheers

Hi Harry I wanted to touch on something you said earlier.

My sub is crossed over at about 45 - 50 hz, but I don’t run the mains through the sub crossover. I run them full range. Canalis says they are only 3 db down at 39 cycles. I keep the sub volume dialed down quite a bit. I’m not looking for boom, boom, just a nice foundation. The sub is a Sunfire True that has enormous power but is not quite as tight as I would prefer. Been thinking about a Rel, but that’s down the priority list. I did have to dial down the sub after my tweaks and once I got the VTA right.

I have the exact same objective in my room 2 Harry, meaning just filling in the bottom octave. I have My Quad 57’s running full off the Music Reference amp. Positioned in the room as they are in the system pic, they are good to about 55hz. I have two Dynaudio subs which kick in at 60hz. They receive a separate direct input from the preamp (happens to be an AI - no remote ! ) in that room.

Wanted to mention, more of a general comment from my experiences. I have spoken with a number of sub manufacturers over the years the earliest, many moons ago was Dr.Hsu, and the most recent Rythmik Audio, a little over a year ago about the use of one sub in a room. They have all told me the same thing and my own room setup in B prior to going to dual subs was one large one; my experiences confirm it as well.

For 2 channel music nearfield placement is best if crossing over low. The sub is positioned ....if and if the room, wife, boundaries permit it..... beside or behind your listening position. It may seem unorthodox but your sub will work at a fraction of the effort it needs when it is across the room. Just set the phase at 180. An easy way to determine if the phase is correct. Put on music with bass, put your hand on the nearfield sub - you can feel the sub pulse and determine if it is in sync with the bass you are hearing at your listening position with the main speakers bass. very obvious with this technique - if it is out of phase.

When I had one sub in that room, and had people over, I would camouflage the nearfield sub and have them tell me where the bass notes were coming from. They would point to some spot over behind the Quad speakers. They found it hilarious when I told them the notes were coming from the box that their glass was resting on, next to them.

Having brought in the Dynaudio subs I will say that anyone that is thinking of using two subs across a good sized room - I would for myself insist in making sure the sub design comes with a remote for the different controls especially Db gain. Music even within the same genres is mastered at varying gain levels of bass. The subs I use have 4 presets that can be used.
Cheers Chris

Hi Chris and Harry,
I worked on the mods to the arm yesterday, but had to leave for dinner with the family before listening. -That's today, and I'll get back about my impressions later on.
I found out that the spring I've been using is a double, and was worried about using a shorter I-beam, as I also traded in my original magnesium arm for an updated one from Bruce which is heavier. -Got a good deal by the way!
So, I decided to try adding a third spring to my homebrew I-beam, my cartridge being fairly low compliance and mc.
 I had a problem with the new wand. The phono connectors are slightly loose. -They slide a bit. Should I pinch them down to get them tighter? I don't want to crush these little connectors, because that's happened before with a different wand and connectors. -A big mess to fix.
-On to woofers. My Wisdom speaker system uses two woofer cabinets crossed over at 120hz. I suppose that because they cross over so high, the designer recommends placing the front face of each one even with the dipole line sources.
One advantage with the electronic crossover is that I can adjust the volume at the lower end (20 hz and below), the volume at the crossover point, and the output of the woofer and dipoles separately. This is handy on certain recordings, but no remote control of any of this; just 4 attenuators per channel.
Cheers and thanks in advance for comments and sage advice,
John