Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Re "straight shot to preamp" wiring:

As just a gentle and friendly nudge to anyone the least bit curious about trying this. In my experience this "tweak" yielded the single biggest improvement in sound quality of any other tweak or adjustment to the ET2. All the other tweaks like using the correct spring compliance for mm or mc, magnesium arm wand and others which deal with resonance and which, to at least some degree, simply shift tonal balance around a bit which, in turn, may add to the impression of "improvement" in the context of a given system are not nearly as large in overall scope. The "sstp" wiring is a very significant improvement of a very fundamental nature with no downside that I ever experienced. Think about it: you are removing at least four solder joints and three connectors of different metals from the path of the tiny and fragile phono cartridge signal’s path. The increase in purity of sound, soundstaging detail and rhythmic coherence is huge in my experience. Of course the choice of wire is important, but secondary to the benefits of getting rid of all the "bumps in the road". The really committed (in more ways than one 😱) can always eliminate the connectors altogether and hardwire the wire directly to the circuit board of the preamp as I did.

Cheers.

I’m with you frogman. The first wiring in an analog system is that in the arm, and the most important to improve if need be. A whole industry popped up to cure the sub-standard Rega arm wiring, but a lot of other arms need it just as badly. A single, unbroken run from cartridge tags to RCA plugs is great, but some systems incur hum problems from the unshielded internal wiring being outside the arm. Some rewiring kits include shielding sleeves for the exposed wire, which often prevents any hum problem. The delicate internal wire is very fragile, and it doesn’t take much to break it off RCA jacks, or even the Cardas RCA block, so take care. I speak from experience!

Frogman, I can only second what you wrote! To hear the elimination of contacts or to compare different connectors under controlled listening tests has been my most educating experience in audio. I think the effect of contacts on sound quality are highly underrated. I guess that from the omnipresence of brass based "professional gold" contacts in a wide field of the audiophile market. Listen once, never return back.I was an anti-WBT low-budget "snob" :-) but the copper based WBT RCA connectors and the Clearaudio MPC were hugely better than any silver- or gold-plated brass connector back when I compared these (with ca. 7 identically constructed & oriented silver interconnects). Yo don't get what you haven't paid for - except for soldering directly!

I made the same change after seeing the nice "loom" made by Take-5 that one of you posted years ago, ordered the Cardas wire, clips and plugs and did my own, my tips on the RCA were not as nice looking, but still functional.

Later, bought a second wand from Bruce and made my own new loom with Litz wire I acquired from Trans-fi (the Terminator guy, Vic), he has a smoking deal on kits with clips and reasonably priced wire.

Now I can swap cartridges and/or wire much easier, currently very happy with the Litz / Ortrofon Quintet Black combo.

Audio setup can be like a jungle. 
Running your setup with a Straight Shot To Preamp "Unshielded Loom",  is akin to ....running through the woods naked.
Free Willy.  Well.... maybe some running shoes.
In both cases try to keep the run / loom short for best results, and with running - best not to Free Willy in May when the blackflies are hovering.