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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Well, I guess my wife is right; I really am a pack-rat. All this talk about arm boards for the HW19 got me thinking and looking in my "equipment graveyard" cabinet where I keep all sorts of stuff not needed nor used for many years in some cases. In one of the drawers I found not one, but two HW19 black acrylic arm boards drilled for the ET2. Harry, as another option for you and as an opportunity to scratch your tweaking itch, if you want one of them you are welcome to it, gratis. You could sandwich it with your existing one for approximately the same height as the "thicker arm board"; you would of course need longer bolts which I know are available at Lowes (or VPI?). You could also experiment by putting a thin layer of some sort of damping sheet between them; sure to change the sound a bit (resonance!). Don’t know why, but one of the boards is 7/16" thick and the other 8/16" thick; the thinner one is in better cosmetic shape and both came from VPI. Neither is bad cosmetically but you can always put yours on top. If you are interested pm me your address and I will send it to you. Re washers: delrin would be good, but I would experiment with metal as well just for fun, and I suspect that simply the act of "suspending" the armboard a bit away from the metal subchassis would have more of an effect as it would surely change its resonance somewhat and more than whether the washers are metal or not. Always fun to experiment.
^^^^
They should come out with a new show on the History channel - American Audiophile Pickers.

very nice gesture Frogman. 
Or, "Audio Storage Wars". I’m sure I am not alone and God knows what else I have in that cabinet. Rules: we get to look over (from a distance) at the audiophile’s room and system and then bid, without looking inside, on the "Miscellaneous old stuff" drawer or box. Old Supex? Telefunkens? Tice "Magic Clock" (I’m showing my age)? One never knows.....👍
Audio Storage Wars would assume someone went through the stuff and organized it - sort of  - to put it in the locker :^)

on a related note.
this past winter I brought my son downstairs and went over everything with him. I put a price on stuff - it sunk in - I hope. Don't want the wife to sell the stuff she has "noticed" come in, for what I told her it costs.

I have two boxes of Amperex Bugle Boys from Holland and the US. For the records, I told him some are worth over 500, but if you assume 3 bucks each - you can buy a really nice car with them so don't just give them away.

We audiophiles all have our graveyard for old or unused equipment. I, too, still have a Tice clock, a box of various footers, (sorbothane, black diamond racing cones,Walker valid points with lead pucks, the original mod squad tiptoes, Michael Green tuning points) various interconnects and speaker cables dating from 1980's or later, electrical parts and connectors, various capacitors, wire bundles, ic's, circuit board material, tubes, which are still good but replaced with "designers." My favorite piece, now sold, was an ancient 841L EAR preamp I bought as "trash" from a local dealer for $200 because of a bad power switch and power light. -Both replaced for nothing and after years of use and storage, sold for $900. Still on the shelf is an ARC BL-1 which converts SE signals to balanced. My dealer told me to never sell it!
I could go on, but you get the picture.
By the way, Harry, if you don't have the aluminum base, get Bruce to send you one. -Very worthwhile.
John