Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Hi Davey, you’re outside of the fenced green pastures of audiophile correctness if you mount an ET2 or ET2.5 onto a Linn. But outside the fence, there’s life too!
Because the ET2 / 2.5 is not a heavy arm it’s feasible, probably needs "expert tuning" of the springs.
Caveats are two: The leverage of the arm tends to tilt the subchassis slightly from one side to the other when playing an LP from beginning to end.
And there’s a second issue that can be resolved with a Linn accessory / modification: The Bespoke spokes, that stop the subchassis from rotational modes, but leave the subchassis vertically decoupling.
This is crucial because rotational modes are only very mildly coupled to a radial tonearm (they counterhold the vast majority of these forces within the horizontal bearing, except for slight dynamic imbalances (in the horizontal plane).
With tangential arms thr inertia of arm and counterweight don’t compensate external forces. So rotational modes lead to slight, but constantly varying horizontal movements of the bearing and cartridge suspension, and therefore a subjective instability, in effect like a wobbly skating force. These modes are "tracked" because usually the horizontal resonance of the arm is below (or around, and not better,) the frequency of these rotational modes.
The Bespoke modification has some slight drawbacks, it seems, but it is in effect quite brillant and will work wonders in this (specific ET) situation.

To the Et2 owners here, I learned on this "ET2 on Linn" linked thread

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/eminent-technology-et2-on-linn-lp12?highlight=et2%2Band%2Blin...

just how passionate these Linn people can be. 8^0
Good post by Pegasus, imo, I especially like this part.

Pegusus
you’re outside of the fenced green pastures of audiophile correctness if you mount an ET2 or ET2.5 onto a Linn. But outside the fence, there’s life too! Because the ET2 / 2.5 is not a heavy arm it’s feasible, probably needs "expert tuning" of the springs.

@daveyf
I learned over the years on AudioGon, that there are people in Audiophilia with years of experience, much money spent on gear, who can’t hear differences between the turntables themselves. One assumes because they have never did a Goldilocks setup where just the turntable was the changing factor? Why else otherwise?

From my personal experiences; and not to dish the various VPI, SP10 Technics, Jean Nantais Lenco, all fine tables in their own iterations that I owned (and do still own the Sp10 and Jean Nantais Lenco); I discovered that they were all ....bottlenecks....... to the ET tonearm. This was realized when I was mounted the ET 2.5 to the Verdier and it went to another higher level.

I sent a picture of my ET 2.5 and Verdier La Platine setup (an American/French) collaboration to Mr. Verdier in France, when he was still alive. His comment back to me was

"What is this strange looking, high quality tonearm you have mounted ?"

It was "outside" of his Audio box, but he could tell it meant business.

The ET 2.0 and 2.5 are little known in Europe and likewise Verdier La Platine little known in the US. Much better known in Canada, else I would not have found one 10 kilometers from where I lived at the time.

Daveyf - IMO If one heard the ET on the Linn in past years and found it a good combo, I have no doubt if one were to "expertly" mount an ET tonearm, in its correct iteration based on the cartridge being used, to the newest version of Linn - that one would be very satisfied.

From the recent London cartridge posts here, I did find a thread started by, to my surprise, Jean Nantais - on the London Decca. I attach fyi. 
   
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/decca-cartridge-experiences\

I found comments from Frogman and Dover within the thread.

I have restarted my winter ritual of pulling 4-5 unknown records every day from my collection, listening to them and cataloging - electronically and physically. Unless a London cart drops from the sky into my lap 8^0 - I will remain in music lover mode this winter.

 You guys have excellent memory!  Yes, London Decca.  Possibly the most frustrating of all my audio experiences; certainly of those in analog playback.  The Decca makes a sound that, in some respects, is the best I have experienced in my system,  When I say “best” I refer to the ability to let recorded music have more of the sense of aliveness and to move with the forward impetus that live music can have.  Tonally, while it sounds somewhat “old-school”, it gives individual images a degree of tonal density that I love.  However, as Chris remembers, no matter what I do I can’t get rid of a deal breaking amount of ground buzzing and humming.  

As far as tracking goes it has always surprised me that it tracks better than its reputation would suggest.  On my ET2 the best tracking cartridge in my humble stable of cartridges is the Monster SG2000. The Decca doesn’t track nearly as well, but is acceptable with most recordings and has the most trouble, as expected, with densely orchestrated orchestral recordings.  I agree that the magnesium arm tube is the way to go.  Likewise, use of the damping trough does improve the Decca’s tracking; not hugely so, but a definite improvement in difficult musical passages.  The cartridge is so alive sounding that it can afford the very subtle “slowing” of dynamics that the use of the trough seems to cause with some cartridges.  

Now, here is a bit of a mystery.  As anyone who has ever struggled to find the best grounding scheme for their audio system knows, it is all a bit mysterious why some things work and why others don’t.  The hum/buzzing that I experience with the Decca is not subtle.  I can reduce it to a level that with fairly aggressive music I can just about ignore it, but as I said it is ultimately a deal breaker.  When I lower the “paddle” into the trough’s fluid the level of the buzzing is reduced slightly.  Huh?!  Why on earth (pun) would this be?  Not a huge difference, but an obvious reduction.  Thoughts?  

You guys have excellent memory!

Not according to my wife ..... 8^(

Regarding the Hum and Buzz with the Decca.

From what I recall Frogman you are running a straight shot from the cartridge pins soldered into the phone stage connections directly. Left ground right ground left signal right signal. I run in a similar fashion but with unshielded wiring a direct shot (3 feet in length), and terminating using WBT plugs.

My wires are separated once they leave the armwand. 4 separate wires hanging in a happy face loop, cause minimal air bearing interaction - but, not being braided all the way can be more susceptible to hum and buzz.

What I did to remove the noise. Did you try this?
Go behind the phono stage and separate the wires the last 12-18 inches before they go into the phono.
With the phono on, the record NOT turning- turn up the volume and start moving each wire individually - one at a time. U will induce noise with each wire movement. Once the first wire is in a position that is quietest, use blue tack to keep that strand in place. Repeat this process with the other three wires. By the time all four strands are done all should be quiet.

Did you try the phono stage cheater plug with the ground removed ?

Also
If someone is using regular shield L and R phono cables and you have noise - try picking up the preamp / phono box and move it 12 inches in all directions.

Frogman the damping trough mystery with subdued noise when it is engaged; a weird phenomena since the damping trough is not electrical.