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
21 bids , 11 bidders !

Coming down to the wire.
Will there be a dark horse bidder ? .

ooooooh.....It's started raining here and I am collecting leaves.

Don't want to do this anymore :^(
 
What fun ebay bidding can be when it's not you.... yourself.... bidding - 8^0
  
anyone here involved ? heh heh heh

I know what a base ET 2.0 original tonearm is worth - let's see what happens.

**** It’s started raining here and I am collecting leaves.

Don’t want to do this anymore :^( ****

Mulch, mulch, mulch, Chris! Good for the lawn, too. Used to collect a couple of acres' worth of leaves off of our lawn at our upstate property. The locals used to think (and would tell me) that I was out of my mind. Mulching kit for my Husqvarna tractor to the rescue. OMG, what was I thinking!

vpi, congrats on your new VDH. Love VDH cartridges.
Frogman - yes, the collect phase is a kind of mechanical collection from the mower bag to curbside paper leaf bag, for town collection and composting.
The birch and maple leaves get mulched into my soil. No problem and feels good to be dropping them into it. But the late fallers....the Oak leaves ......take all winter to fall and are a real problem as they don’t seem to break down. A PITA. Mulching them is like trying to mulch Styrofoam.

*******************

So when that auction I linked was in play - I got this email from someone asking about it and whether he should consider it. He was not a current or past owner of the ET2 tonearm. I told this person.

"Whether you should get the ET2 depends on your personality type. Let me use an analogy to explain.

Think back to the days when we used to drive our automobiles before GPS and Google Maps. So you are out on the road in an unknown area - a little lost - what do you do ?

Personality type A
would - open the glove box and pull out a hardcopy map; or stop and ask for directions.

Personality type B -
would - just prod onward blindly hoping they will reach their destination.

Type B should not own this tonearm IMO. "

8^0


Great analogy!

Ordered two long I-beams yesterday; single and double spring versions.   What a nice man Bruce T is!  You may recall from early in the thread my description of my diy balsa wood version of a long I-beam.  Worked well, but always had trouble with reliably securing the leaf springs to it.  Will keep you all posted.
@ct0517 

I loved the analogy too.  

@frogman 

Congrats on the long I-beams. Let us know what you hear with them.

 The VDH Black Beauty SPX is not quite broken in yet but I'm becoming a huge VDH fan.  Right out of the box it had a luscious midrange without the lost detail I experienced with the MC-1.  The Black Beauty SPX is a large upgrade from the MC-1 Special.