Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

@bdp24  Thanks for very helpful info.  Please let us know how your comparisons work out.

Bdp24
Brooks Berdan was a big fan of the Oracle Delphi (he even came up with a mod for it, which Oracle ended up copying), to which he mounted many of the Eminent Technology arm. But when the HW-19 (and then the TNT) was introduced, he switched allegiance to that high mass design for use with the ET, feeling it provided a better platform for the moving mass of the arm’s wand.

here is an Oracle ET combo here.

Remember, there are over 2500 Et2’s out there. I suspect more and more vinyl combos to come available in the near future, as some owners have passed on, or are at that point in time where "convenience" with Audio has become the most important priority to them.

bdp24 (Eric)

I never owned the Canadian Oracle, but did own the Harry Weisfeld Mark 4 Piano Black and the more expensive TNT (which was designed as we know in a collaboration between Harry VPI and Bruce - ET. That collaboration ended, as all business relationships do; I suspect when Harry introduced his own tonearm.

Both these tables HW19-4 and TNT were designed and built to certain price points. In analysis (past) of manufacturer turntable builds in general, I have noticed that "one" of the areas that designers put their focus on as price levels increase, is in the table’s tolerances.

If one is in Audiophile Mode and looking for more performance, for either the stock HW19 and TNT, having owned them; improvements can be made to elevate the ET2 performance by upgrading the turntable’s

1) Bearing 2) Suspension (4 pods on the TNT) 3) Rubber belt drive system.

For myself I discovered that these areas were a type of bottleneck to my ET2’s performance, in my system kit and space at that time. This became the most evident to me after the ET2 was put on other tables, SP10MKII and Nantais Lenco, with the same cartridge in my space; as well as being compared with Tape R2R - 15 IPS,

Pic 28 in my virtual system shows what mods I ended up when I owned the TNT, to allow it to come closer to the speed stability of the SP10 and the Nantais Lenco groove factor.

@ct0517, the expensive VPI’s use the same cr*ppy Hurst motor as the cheapest! I recently got myself an Aries 1 for peanuts (specifically as a platform for the TransFi Terminator arm), and it is really a TNT with a smaller footprint (22" x 16")---the TNT was too d*mn big. One way to elevate any of the VPI’s is with the Phoenix Engineering Falcon or Eagle PSU’s, and Roadrunner tachometer.

Is the Hurst motor a springboard for (their) motor controllers?

Bdp24 - too d*mn big

there are no such words in the Audiophile world. Too big is also a relative thing. You want big ....come see my Jean Nantais Lenco. You will have a Come to Jesus moment. For some its been their only religious moment.

Picture this..ah actually no, see pic 8 Goldilocks and the Three Turntables. So it has by design to deal with those nasty idler resonances, hollowed out cavities under the motor, and both armboards; and it still weighs 100 lbs.

Bdp24 - the expensive VPI’s use the same cr*ppy Hurst motor as the cheapest!

If an Audiophile does not like their outboard motor, or their controller, it’s a very easy thing to swap out, or bypass it (in the case of the HW19). Changing out the bearing structure DNA is however another matter. You know, in real estate they like to say Location, Location, Location. Well with turntables and tonearms, it’s the Bearing, Bearing, Bearing....
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Regarding your Aries TT Eric. As a drummer IMO you owe it to yourself, to go to Fabricland, pick up some Silk thread and hear what thread driven drum shots sound like, compared to the rubber belt.