Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Good evening,

Follow up report.  While I will not claim to have become an ET expert, after about two months of tweaking and upgrading I can offer some suggestions on listening to your tweaks.

1.  For those of us who use subwoofers, the tuning of your subwoofers adds a whole additional layer to what you hear.  My advice here is to either get your subwoofer settings where you want them before you tweak/upgrade your ET or disconnect your subwoofer and listen for a few sessions before tweaking your ET.  Then go back and readjust the sub before you pass judgement on your ET tweak.  A tweak you think was one step backward may well be two steps forward when you get your sub tuned back in.  VTA setting and sub integration can be interrelated.

2.  When tweaking your ET pick 2 or 3 of the LP's that you rely on for testing your system and stick with them until you are happy with the result.  Do not start sampling your record collection before you are satisfied with your work.  Few of us have record collections comprised of only excellent recordings.   If it was a lousy recording before you upgraded your ET, it will probably still be a lousy recording no matter how amazing your upgrade or tweak.

3.  Be disciplined when you upgrade. Do one tweak or upgrade at a time.  Perform only those tasks necessary to complete the upgrade or tweak you set out to accomplish. Do not give a bolt or screw that is not part of your upgrade one last twist before listening.  I.e. Resist the urge to give that loose VTA block bolt a little twist for good luck. 

These suggestions are probably second nature to you old hands but I think they can save a good deal of frustration to those new to ET upgrades and tweaks.  

May you spend more time listening to your music than your system,
Harry

Good suggestions, Harry.  I sent you the board via USPS yesterday. I also included a piece of the material that I mentioned previously. If and when you get around to trying the "double-board" I would try with and without the sheet between the boards. Resonance and its effects is a crazy thing and the two boards, as tightly together as they may be held together, will still resonate as thinner boards in, at least, parts of their total surface area; as flat as these boards may be cut, they won't make contact with each other over their entire surface area. The sheet between them may help them act "as one" and will introduce some dampening which may or may not be beneficial in the context of your system and your tastes.  At least, that is how my twisted brain considers this kind of thing.  Please report any impressions. 

Thanks again frogman,
I'll be interested to hear whether the double arm board performs better than the single with spacers.  I'm going to try it first w/o the damping.  I understand the two boards will not mate perfectly across their entire surface area but, then, there isn't any damping between the metal sub plinth and the single board either.  Then still again no one ever argued the HW-19 can't benefit from tweaking.
Harry

John,
Tried to contact Convergent Audio Technology without success.  All you get is a recorded mesage telling you their business hours.  They build great products but are very customer unfriendly.  So I'm getting brave.  Ordered some nice looking RCA plugs to build my own cartridge loading plugs.  Do you know if resistors are directional, i.e. Is there a plus end and a negative end?
Thanks,
Harry

Hi Harry (and John)

what happens when you guys run your Lyra carts on 47k load ?

Chris