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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 ?
128x128ct0517
vpi's avatar
vpi
223 posts
 
Bruce's second run, long I-Beam delivered yesterday.  Much better fit for the weight clamp.  Sounding good. 
Cheers

vpi's avatar
vpi
223 posts
 
Gentlemen,
I recently picked up a Van den Hul MC One Special.  Specs say static compliance is 28 micron/mN.  I don't have a clue what this means in terms of high, low or medium compliance.  Can some of you with a better engineering/physics background than I tell me which of Bruce's arm wands would be best suited to this cartridge.
Thanks,
Harry
pegasus
116 posts
 
I don't know your degree, so I don't tell you mine... ;-)Except that you will find the formulas if you feel the need.It's a rather elevated compliance in these days, not Shure-high but probably, relating to ct517 experiences, it better fits a ET 2 and not a ET 2.5, as the mass of the ET 2 is lower. However, I think it's mainly a question of the arm wand, ie. using the original alu wand.
With this cartridge it's more about experimenting with vertical inertia, starting at the lower side, starting with more counterweights close to the bearing.
You always can increase vertical inertia by trying less counterweights in the middle and then a low count at the outer end.
I suspect that still the long i-beam with counterweights out and starting with a single spring might be best, as the high compliance / low resonance frequency of the cartridge might be better controlled by an I-beam that is set to the lowest most resonance.
vpi's avatar
vpi
223 posts
 
Thanks Pegasus,
I started college (1961) majoring in engineering.  At the end of my sophomore year intermediate calculus drove me to change major to political science.

I have an ET 2 that has not been upgraded to the high pressure manifold but I'm am running it with a pump that gives me @ 8 psi.  I've been running the VDH with an extra magnesium arm I picked up.  I'll try the original al arm.  Thanks for the info.
Harry
dover
2,262 posts
 
@vpi 
I have found with the original aluminium arm that removing the internal foam and heat shrink improved transparency. I did this ins stages to verify each step. Ypou might want to try it.
I also opened up the cartridge end of the arm tube removed the spongy teflon insert and replaced it with a piece of carbon fibre - fixed with araldite and compression.This is relatively easy to do and again provided a good improvement. 
Fyi years ago I had a Van den jul MC One -preferred it to the more expensive Grasshopper at the time. Verynice cartridge. It was more balanced and not as lean as some of the early Grasshoppers.
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