Does the Eminent Technology 2.5 arm work well with the Transcriptors Reference turntable?

@mijostyn

ok, thanks for the info. I was hoping but I wasn’t optimistic about making it work.
 

@rooze

Ignore mijo - he doesn’t know what he is talking about.

The Debut is a very stable hanging suspension - when I met Dan Agostino in the 80’s his reference front end was Basis Debut with Air Tangent linear tracker driving tri-amped Apogees - superb sound.

The ET2 only requires 1 small hole in the armband - if you mount the ET2 with it’s arm tube parallel to the front of the Basis TT you will find the hole is forward of your existing arm hole - so for the sake of 1 1/4 inch hole you can probably try the arm out using your existing armboard. ( albeit you will have an ugly hole at the back of the arm board ( easily plugged ).

This combo will be far superior to the Graham.

For what it’s worth I have owned an ET2 for over 30 years and own and have installed most of the top arms over the years - I’ve set up the Kuzma 4point11 on multiple tables - the ET2 loses nothing. The ET2 is much better than its competitors such as the Godlmund, Souther.Clearaudio,. etc. In fact if you ask Franc Kuzma which is his best tonearm - the answer is always his linear tracker Kuzma Air.

If you look at the installation diagram for the Sota on the ET site it has all the measurements you need to locate the placement and double check the fit.

http://www.eminent-tech.com/techsuppt.htm

I would encourage you to try it out - the ET2 will outperform most conventional arms. The slightly high lateral mass is misunderstood - there is more pressure on the cartridge suspension from most pivoted arms than the ET2.

Here’s a comment from the designer Brush Thigpen who has a degree in physics and audio engineering in response the the question of lateral effective mass on the ET

Chris,

The untold parameter of a pivoted tonearm: To minimize tracking
error, pivoted tonearms were lengthened with a bend in the wand, or by
mounting the stylus at an angle in the headshell. The frictional force
of the stylus in the groove wants to straighten out the bend or crawl up
the records inner groove wall. When using anti skating with a pivoted
tonearm to prevent inner groove wear, regardless of mass, pivoted
tonearms bend the stylus with an opposite side load force of between .1
and .2 grams per gram of tracking force, the tonearm shaft is being
twisted outward (as viewed from above) with this static load which goes
through the stylus suspension, but the percentage of creep on the inner
wall of the record groove actually varies with the passage loudness or %
groove modulation. So you are constantly bending the stylus while only
marginally solving the problem.

With the ET-2 the side loads to accelerate the tonearm at .55hz
(33/13 RPM) are less than half of those values for an eccentricity of
.0312 inches (1/32 inch) and are a linear function of record
eccentricity. The cartridge cantilever suspension sees much lower loads.

So as you add mass, this side load value of the ET-2 goes up
linearly, but is always less than using any pivoted tonearm with anti
skating.

I hope this helps - brucet

I've owned an ET2.5 for almost 25 years, mounted on a VPI TNT 4.  With all due respect to @mijostyn , he doesn't know what he's talking about with respect to the ET arms.  I would not consider mounting one on a table with a loosely sprung suspension, but on a stable suspension, the arm has few peers.  I've owned an SME V and a Graham 2.2.  Neither of them came close to a properly set up ET2.5. I still use the ET 2.5 and the Graham and SME are long gone.

Yes, the table needs to be dead level, and the arm tube and number of springs used on the counterweight assembly needs to be set up properly for the mass and compliance of the cartridge.  Also the air pressure fed to the arm makes an audible difference.  I feed mine with a shop compressor and adjust the pressure using a precision low pressure regulator. I realize this sounds a bit complicated, but once set up, I don't need to do anything but play records for a long time, it keeps the adjustments perfectly.  When you get the setup right, it's pure magic.

Another big advantage is VTA on the fly, and due to an ingenious design, the stylus overhang does not change as you adjust VTA.  There may be other arms that can do this, but I'm not aware of any,

@dover and @ vinylzone. The ET 2 and all the other arms like it are the wishful  thinking of individuals who should know better. The horizontal effective mass is almost twice that of the vertical mass. This puts the related resonance frequencies is disparate locations. The end result is messed up bass one way or the other creating not just creating problems with the quality of the bass (most people are not sensitive to this) but also the ability of the cartridge to track correctly. These arms always sound worse than a proper pivoted arms. The may look cool and be fun to watch but , that is about it. This says nothing about maintenance issues and durability. The Clearaudio arms are just as bad. There is this one German manufacturer who makes a carriage driven straight line tracker, a very difficult stunt to pull off, for a ridiculous price. I would love to hear one but that will probably never happen.  The Solution to this problem if you want tangential tracking is either the Reed 5T or the Schroder LT. If I had a turntable it would fit on I'd get the Schroder. @rooze , The Debut Signature is a fine turntable and deserves the finest of arms. I suspect you are somewhat price limited. How much can you spend?

@mijostyn 

meh