Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Wanna be here

Pegasus your picture doesn't load for me.

Any plusminus systematic listening impressions with the long i-beam? Ie. whether the counterweight far out (lower i-beam resonance) is preferred to less far out and a heavier counterweight? I tend to feel ( ;-) that the bass with my high compliance cartridge / ET 2.5 is unusually quick and extended with the long i-beam, and with the counterweight rather far out.

The only negative for me so far. Sometimes my wife is careless and leaves the main floor door leading down to Dads's Hole ....open. Our Savannah cat likes to explore. So I have been researching the costs for an an acrylic cover to cover the entire ET2 tonearm and Verdier platter - and accommodating that long I Beam means .........a bigger Acrylic footprint now. The stuff is not cheap.

I tend to feel ( ;-) that the bass with my high compliance cartridge / ET 2.5 is unusually quick and extended with the long i-beam, and with the counterweight rather far out.

This is the recommended setup formula for highest vertical inertia.

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for non ET2 owners. The Curious 8^0 
Picture two friends equal weight on a teeter totter. That's the ideal setup for fun and ET2 setup.. 
If a heavier friend shows up instead he will need to sit closer to the center beam. Likewise with the ET2 the heavier weights move forward closer to the air bearing. Not ideal. With the ET2 this increases horizontal inertia. The ET2 already has high horizontal inertia and medium vertical inertia. We can modify this with the counterweights positioning and increase vertical inertia - less weight further out.        

**** BTW - anybody had the issue, that the damping trough "moved" over a long time? Ie. the bonding tape letting loose slightly, not symmetrically bearing side vs. outer side.
In consequence the "oil bath" is not level with a level arm.****

Yes, and the arm will then “see” varying degrees of damping as the paddle traverses the trough. Not good. My solution was to cut a small piece of foam approximately one half or more the length of the portion of trough that is bonded to the manifold housing and slightly taller than the space between the bottom of the manifold housing and the arm board or top plate of the table. Push it inside the middle portion of the gap between the two and the springiness of the foam will apply just enough pressure to the underside of the bonded portion of the trough to keep it perfectly in place.

Yes, and the arm will then “see” varying degrees of damping as the paddle traverses the trough. Not good.

Frogman/Pegasus

No not good. A case of the "tail wagging the dog" ??

We are dealing with an exotic tonearm here. We go to a lot of trouble in setup, to achieve what we believe is simplicity - the Truth.  

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qp7Va8CbBkKmsBz67

We took the Red Pill a long time ago... remember ?
You don't want the back end (damping trough) not holding up its end of the agreement.

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Reminds me of something my late uncle said to me one time many years ago. We were riding in my car and I thought I heard something making noise in the back. My uncle said to me "don't worry about any noises in the back" ......LOL

It's a substantial piece,  the damping trough.
If mounting I am off to Home Depot for permanent bond.
Removing the tonearm, Putting the manifold casing on its backside.
Lining it up correctly. Triple checking.
Committing to it.

Then it becomes even more critical to set the arm up right.
If you are lined up correct at the front - you better be straight with the paddle at the end. 

No one told me this road was going to be wet ........8^0 

The road: started for me with the Et One ca. 1985. After I’d explained the physical drawbacks of the construction a few months earlier to an enthusiasmized friend... :-)
It worked sonically rather well - with the one exception of the somewhat lacklustre sound of a Decca London cartridge, which I couldn’t explain - at that time.
Then, ca. 1987 an offer I couldn’t resist: The offer for an ET2.Later adding the damping trough, in between the (shitty) WISA pump and the expensive & OK lab tank, which now is broken thanks to ageing PVC. It is replaced now by an adapted cheap PE gasoline tank. Then the high pressure bearing and the ET2.5...The evolving ET 2/2.5 is the best audio & musical joy investment I ever made. Returning to it after ca. 15 years of Well Tempered Signature front end was like coming home.

The one thing I always come back with surprising consistency: Maximized (and almost) perfect lateral balance is surprisingly audible. The ET2 / 2.5 is an audio measuring tool for forces on the cartridges cantilever. It’s more easily adjustable than any other arm IMO. First level the turntable on its own as precisely as feasible (more difficult because without the help of the ET2.) Then level the arm on the ’table by nulling the tendency to glide away.After this, in my somewhat "organic setup" (wood floor, wood parts in the base), I level the integral turntable with help of the arm.

And the other thing really standing out: The front end is so revealing that several times during the last weeks I heard something slightly off, and it was either the floor "working" (level, see point above) or:
By handling of the arm, touching the counterweight or some other handling, the VTF differed *slightly* - ie. not more than 0.015 gram. It was eally less than 2cg. Context: I do not really tighten any screw in my setup, because of (...). This *was* audible in a close to blind test situation - "... somethings sounding not quite... ??". In such a revealing setup it’s *musically* rewarding to a surprising degree how much (less than) 0.01 gram VTF can do, sonically.
I invite anyone to try first before argueing against - an ET2 or any other superb front end BTW will show it. (And yes, I know that temperature and other factors modify the dampers properties constantly).