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 ?
Hi Guys (Gals ?) This popped into my inbox this morning. It is a rare listing for an ET tonearm that started life as 2.0, and was upgraded to 2.5 status. This means it has the bigger bore manifold and larger diameter air bearing spindle.
It includes additional options which include single shot wiring. Anyone interested needs to realize that this tonearm will require a suitable air source, able to deliver more than 19.0 psi to allow for a steady 19 psi.
As an FYI. It comes with the original aluminum armtube only from the looks of it. The Carbon Fiber and Magnesium armtubes are a better match for the 2.5.
Also be aware that Bruce now offers upgrades to the original design which include Solid Aluminum Base Mount, and Gooseneck (replace the CF), and of course the longer I Beam which reduces the weights requirements in half.
Speaking of removable arm boards and audiophile anxiety:
My (now “hybrid”) TNT 6 came with an arm board drilled for a SME V. I was having difficulty getting a blank or predrilled armboard for my ET2, so I went ahead and had VPI drill the SME V board to accept the ET2, SME cutout and all. I was eventually able to source two blank armboards which VPI drilled for the ET2 and for the Syrinx PU3 which I keep “just in case”. Wouldn’t you know it, I was convinced that the arm board with the SME cutout sounded better and actually went back and forth a couple of times with the two arm boards to determine which actually did sound better; PITA. Eventually settled on the new board without the SME cutout simply because it looked so much better 😊.
considering the obscene amount I paid for the plinth I quickly decided against drilling more holes.
What causes more audiophile anxiety ?
A) Putting an extra hole into a - let's call it a "creation"
or
B) Getting the hole position correct.
???
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Many years ago I made my own plinth (for fun-still have it) out of birch, mdf, some other materials. 50-60 lbs ? I think.
A sandwiched block with a cutout for the motor/platter - in this case for an SP10.
One of the main lessons I learned from that adventure, is that removable armboards, or arm pillars that swivel, are worth their weight in gold as far as this audio hobby is concerned. The extra work, skill and time that goes into making this option possible, is considerable and definitely not for the hobby person.
Ketchup, I briefly considered putting the ET-2 on the Garrard but considering the obscene amount I paid for the plinth I quickly decided against drilling more holes. I'll eventually be putting the Delos back on the Garrard and I was never satisfied with the Delos on the ET-2. But it really sings on the Garrard/Ortofon rig,
If you decide to try it, let us know what you hear. Cheers, Harry
vpi, Nice looking tables! Did you ever think about putting the ET2 on the Garrard? I don't think I've ever seen that combination before. I have an ET2.5 and a Garrard 301. I might have to try it.
@ct0517 Hi Chris, My Denon is the M version. From my reading I believe it did not have a conical stylus but a line contact on a boron cantilever. I'm pretty sure my Denon has been retipped, including cantilever because the chap I bought it from said it had an aluminum cantilever and only 50 hours but was not NOS. The DL-103M is way to old and out of production to have only 50 hours and it had a boron cantilever.
The Delos has been resting too long for me to make comparisons with the Denon. I am running it on the Garard 301 through an ARC PH-3 to my CAT SL-1. Compared to the Van den Hul Black Beauty on the VPI. running directly to the CAT the Denon does nothing wrong. It just has a little less. Totally sins of omission. Not quite as much air, extension up top or separation of instruments. Bass extension is very nice. Sound stage not quite as deep. The differences are not large. It is not something one notices if one starts listening on the Denon. It is not until I switch over to the VDH that I hear the difference. But considering the more than 10X price difference the difference in sq is small. And it is just very musical.
Re my sub crossover. I don't know when you last looked at my virtual systems but there are other changes since last we chatted. I was running a Sunfire True sub with no crossover. High level input from my amp to the Sunfire. Gone is the Sunfire, replaced with a Vandersteen sub which uses filters to reduce bass from one's amp and regenerate in the sub. My amp has a 200k ohm input impedance. If I set the Vandersteen input filter/crossover at 200k ohms it is crossing over at 80 hz, but it sounds best set at 100k ohms. I think this produces a slightly lower crossover point but I'm not sure.
Even though I'm running my signal through another box (the crossover) with associated extra plugs and interconnect the Vandy woofer was a huge improvement. Not only is the bass more precise but the improvement in soundstaging, air and room cues was substantial. Releving my main speakers of bass improved everything up above.
I intend to try you near field sub experiment next rainy day but my room does not allow permanent near field placement of the sub.
Oh I realize that Ketchup. Firstly my apologies for going audiophile on you guys..temporarily. The recent chill in the air has forced me inside. Must be the contributing factor.
I said what I said because I thought hanging a pump motor would "improve" on the set up. Another way is to add the surge tank - yes.
"Putting the pump in another room is the easiest way to mitigate vibrations"
It's still sending noise down the air line like electricity. So a very easy way of finding out how much noise for those interested. (Discussed here already)
If one wants to find out how much pump noise is being sent down the air line follow this procedure.
******************
1) With pump on and system muted - Lower the ET2 onto a still record. 2) Turn off the air pump. 3) Still muted turn the volume up to regular listening level and Unmute the system. 4) Place your ear next to the speaker. 5) Have a friend/wife turn the pump on while you listen to the speaker. Note any differences.
So it would be an interesting comparison with a standard WISA setup and a hanging one. anyways.
ps.
6) One can also start jumping up and down around the turntable after #5, and, if there is no noise out of the speakers..... your setup is solid.
Hi Chris, They "wear out" due to age. They get hard and crack. Putting the pump in another room is the easiest way to mitigate vibrations. An even better way is to use a large air compressor to get rid or the air pulses, but that's a different matter altogether. The info in the link above is for someone wanting to bring their pump back to factory configuration and operation.
If the WISA pumps design, produced enough case vibration to wear out its footings, this means it is also sending noise down the air line to the air bearing chamber. Why not hang - suspend, the thing in the air like the tonearm, and be done with it ? Think outside the box.
I can think of a couple a ways to do it if I owned it.
I always thought the best tweaks for when curious or bored were the free ones. Harry, you have a nice sized space from your virtual system. What HZ do you have your speakers crossed over to the sub ? If they are crossed below 100hz, you have the option of running your sub near field.
Your sub will work 1/4 as hard, there will be less heat and vibration so its components will last longer; but most important, the bass performance will increase multiple times better.
Now, I realize it is not doable solution in some rooms due to aesthetics or having the sub cables running across the room. Still for giggles ..... IMO anyone running one sub or two should experience this at least one time. Regardless of how much and the type of bass each of us prefer in our rooms; I think its the bass that will make or break the room in the end.
Remember to change the sub phase to 180 if anyone wants to try this. To ensure it is running in proper phase I like to place my hand on the subs cone surrounds and feel the pulses to ensure they are in sync with the bass notes from the main speakers across the room,
Looking like a brown Christmas here with above zero temps in the forecast. When I see words like "Iced in yet ", from an audio hobby perspective, I picture homes in the northern US and Canada with full height basements and concrete floors. These spaces make the best vinyl rooms. 8^0.
I believe the Denon has a conical stylus. From an empirical perspective Harry, what if any information, dynamics, musicality ? is lost compared to your other carts ?
Wow, has it bee 6 Months? I hope that's because is thrilled and nor board with their systems.
@ct0517 Are you iced in yet?
This fall I acquired a Denon DL 103 M. Truly performs way above its class. No, it's not better that the Van den Hul or the Delos but for $200 it is incredible value. Very musical. It just doesn't do any thing wrong.
It must be tough for cartridge designers being at the start of vinyl playback. I mean, once you get past the four exit pins, they have no idea what tonearm, loom/wires, TT, phono stage, rest of the chain / room.....is being used by their buyer. Does this weigh more on the minds of those making higher priced cartridges ? You would think.....I would think.....that at least get the four pins exit points the same. Make it a standard. No ? Case in point....See this picture
My Swiss "freedom fighter" upper picture. My Japanese heavy weight - lower picture.
Total opposites on PIN exit design. Why....Confusing ...Yes.
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Harry - as discussed here before, I bypassed Bruce’ standard loom long ago. Even Bruce uses a straight shot in, but based on what you posted I went to dig out the old looms that came with the armtubes, to have a look. I found a couple. On the one, see here.
There are four red,green,white, blue wires with black coverings where the leads are connected. Now on the other one - definitely older - there are again the four wires - this time the coverings where they attach to the leads are color coded, and red one is black in color.
@frogman Thinking more about your comment regarding phase issues. I know what reversed plus to minus on one channel does to the sound but I was not sure what I should have noticed when the two grounds are reversed with respect to one another. I know, in addition to the hum, everything was flat and lacked any meat. As soon as I switched the ground leads to proper pins the sound became more full, rich and liquid coming from a blacker background. Not too sweet or bloated just rich. For example, on a well setup analog front end, playing a well recorded live performance, when I drop the needle I can hear the room before the music starts. I just hear the air. With the ground leads reversed that was missing. Now it's back.
@frogman My aluminum wand is Red/Black, White/Blue (no green) and the Blue pin on my VDH is very dark blue. That combined with not paying close enough attention caused reversal. And, absolutely, the sound quality was substantially degraded. Not audible distortion except for hum and loss of a black background. But probably substantial phase issues. Other than the hum the effect was more subtractive than additive. I think because I couldn't hear the hum over the music I underestimated its intensity and the hash that mis-wiring caused. But when I corrected the problem it was obvious that a lot of bad stuff had gone away. Kind of the opposite of a well setup sub where you don't know it's there until you turn it off and hear what is missing. Now, correctly wired, the VDH has never sounded better. Gobs of liquidity, black background and nice bloom.
@pegasus Yes, plug in cartridges would be nice for klutzes lime me.
Glad you figured it out, VPI. However, I am perplexed by a couple of things; and not meaning to add to any disappointment 🙃
**** Bruce's color coding doesn't match my VDH. ****
Huh!? Red/Green, White/Blue; no? I do know that the Blue on my VDH’s has been unusually dark.
Seems to me that a tiny bit of hum would be the least of the issues caused by reversing the two ground wires. Did you hear any other distortions or phase issues?
I only see one solution (or is it a soulution?): A Lyra Delos in P-mount T4P-norm. Jonathan, are you listening? Actually it's not a total joke. I admit that the concept of setting tracking force by standardized brutto P-mount cartridge weight-actual cartridge weight is too restrictive to design high quality cartridges. But a standardized electrical/mechanical connection eliminates in many cases a few crimp and / or solder contacts. Besides eliminating the hassle of fiddling with cartridge clips and their solder connections, and eliminating the possibility of swapped ground or signal connections.
^^^ Well imo, there is nothing funny about a bad ground; whether it is caused by an incorrect connection, and/or a bad connection. The later bad connection (gradually deteriorating) is one of the main reasons boat trailer lights stop working. In and out of the water, many forget to unplug the connection to the vehicle when launching a boat. Everyone with a boat trailer has done it at one time or another.
This vinyl hobby for those that use different cartridges entails a lot of unplugging, replacing cartridge, and reconnecting. The four leads going to the cartridge is just asking for trouble. Making sure each lead is "tight-on" is important. I make the connections first, then I bolt on the cart.
The great swiss writer and dramaturg Friedrich Dürrenmatt once said (ca.) that today (in the 20th century) there is no way to write dramas. Anything is a comedy. And the greatest comedy of all is reality.I like this sort of fun. And similar things happened to me too. It's more fun to laugh than to cry (if possible...)
VPI's HUM PROBLEM Before I get started, so that no one's manhood be offended, please recognize this as HUMOR.
That said, here I stand thoroughly embarrassed and disapointed. Embarrassed that after 50 years in this hobby I still don't seem to be able to correctly connect wires to my cartridge. Disapointed in that none of you geniuses thought to suggest I check to see if my hum was caused by connecting the right ground wire to the left pin on my VDH and vice versa. In your defense you probably thought that since I had been in this hobby since before many of you were borne I'd know how to wire a cartridge. In my defense, Bruce's color coding doesn't match my VDH.
Today, the super, duper, triple shielded phono interconnects arrived. Obviously they did not remove the hum. A light went off. I checked and reversed the ground connections to the cartridge and, poof, hum gone. Amazing how good a VDH Black Beauty sounds when properly hooked up.
In all seriousness I do appreciate all your suggestions. Harry
vpi I plugged in some longer ICs that I can move around. Moving them around makes a substantial difference but I can't listen standing on one leg with one cable around my left ear and the other between my toes.
8^0
As mentioned on this thread some time ago - these moves ^^^^ are known in the audiophile world, as "James Bond Maneuvers".
Picture him in movies, trying to allude deadly laser beams as he tries to get to the precious in the vault, and out again.
Buzzing, humming, represents the cancer in our hobby - imo.
The lengths we go to, to eliminate these extraneous noises not on our source material, knows no bounds. May we all be grounded well and free of interference....
@pegasus Thank you for the translation. What I find rather strange is that moving my loom around produces no change in the hum while moving the interconnects around has a significant effect on the volume of the hum. Only explanation I can think of is the source of EMI is the preamp and the IC is closer than the loom. Good luck with your London. Cheers, Harry
@vpi: Basically the hum level is strongly related to the efficiency of the magnetic circuit and specially the coil wire diameter. Increasing the number of turns (because of an air coil or more windings for a higher output) basically means thinner wire. Thinner wire helps to increase the signal, but even more increases coil resistance (ca. = impedance at audio frequencies). This leads to higher hum susceptibility with unshielded wiring. Air bearing arms need at least 15cm of unshielded wires for the wiring loom. This increases the minimal level of hum. With luck and good systematic grounding of arm and any conducting surfaces around the arm / platter / plinth / motor, and shielding the signal cables, grounding them independently at a single point at the preamp/step up input should eliminate any problematic level of hum. My experience with the ET2 is that it’s unproblematic with low impedance MCs, even with unscreened cables, which I prefer. In my actual situation with a London cartridge the source impedance of the coils forces me to implement screening – which is what I am working on this weekend...;-)
Well, thanks Frogman and Pegasus (I think). Pegasus, while I think I understand your basic proposition, you are way beyond my level of electrical knowledge. In any event, my VDH Black Beauty is not the low output model. I don't remember precisely but it is either .5 or .6. I have not tried the VDH yet on the Garrard/Ortofon. But I suspect I would not have the hum because, as you observed, the Ortofon is far more shielded as is the Ortofon cable I'm using. If I understand your explanation, assuming no adverse effect on sq, the Huffman cables may go a long way to solving my problem as they are triple shielded yet very low impedance.
Frogman, no change in hum with motor on or off, plugged in or not plugged in. And, no, I can't hear the hum with music playing, nor can I hear it more than a foot or so from the speakers at reasonable volume levels without music playing. It doesn't intrude on the music. What can I say, I'm an audiophile, I'm OC. Out, out damn hum!
Chris, I plugged in some longer ICs that I can move around. Moving them around makes a substantial difference but I can't listen standing on one leg with one cable around my left ear and the other between my toes. Somehow Keith Jarrett is just not the same. 😜
Thanks to all. I'll report back if I find the magic bullet.
Does anyone else use a wall mounted (to the studs of a weight bearing wall) shelf to mount their table? My homebrew turntable shelf consists of heavy duty L brackets from Home Depot and a 1 1/2 inch thick birch plywood shelf. You could stand on my shelf, and no feedback from the floor or woofers. I have a dedicated room and no wife acceptance to worry about. -John
vpi, while I have not used a HW19 for some time and ever since I got my TNT6, I did experience what you describe during the years that I did use it. It was a very low level, volume dependent, hum that I was never able to get rid of. In my case, the cause of it was the HW19’s motor itself; the hum was much worse when the motor was turned off (!). While I could never get rid of it entirely, the level of hum was lowest when I secured a grounding wire to one of the bolts which secure the arm board (ET2, of course) and ran it to the ground lug on the back of my preamp. Hum/grounding issues involve a bit of black magic and the causes and solutions don’t always make sense at first.
In addition to Chris’ excellent suggestions try removing the tt belt and with the stylus resting on an lp turn the motor on and off. Any change in hum level? Then, lift the stylus off the record and do it again to make sure the hum is not simply mechanical noise generated by the motor. Btw, it is not clear from your description of the problem whether you can hear the hum while music is playing. Also, try reversing the orientation of the tt AC plug. These may give you a clue as to what is going on.
Keep in mind that, like Chris, almost from the time I got my ET2, I have used a straight run of wire from cartridge to preamp; no junction box. I also highly recommend this; the sonic benefits are tremendous imo. However, interestingly and unfortunately, while things are dead quite with MC carts, I now (TNT) tend to have noise issues (mostly buzzing) with MM cartridges. Varies cart to cart. My Acutex and Azden are acceptable, the Empire is borderline; and very frustratingly my “Holy Grail MM”, the AT ATML 170 OCC is unusable. With a lot of experimentation and moving wires around as Chris suggests I can get things acceptably quite with most MM’s, but there is always some noise which I wish I could get rid of entirely.
Good luck and I know I am not thinking of some of the other things that I tried. I will post them as I think of them.
@vpi: regarding hum: The Delos has ca. 2.5 dB more output than the Black Beauty in low output configuration, with a quite low source / coil impedance. I suspect the vdH is more in the range of 20-30 Ohms. I was & am amazed that this information is lacking in all sources I could find, be it van den Huls website, be it eg. Stereophiles / Sculls review! The source impedance is an absolutely essential technical information, as essential as the outpult voltage. There are two reasons:- Stray capacitance couples the static mains voltage field into the tonearms signal wiring and forms a RC voltage divider, the R provided by the source impedance - in this case the source impedance of the cartridge. Ie. a lower source impedance shorts more of the coupled mains field to ground. Shielding should shunt this voltage proportionally to the degree of shielding, and by adding a higher capacitive impedance against the external field. - For MC transformer compatibility, source impedance is the key parameter (not voltage) - it makes or breaks compatibility.
Assuming a 3x source impedance, this increases stray hum coupling by 9.5 dB, which would result in 12dB more hum with the vdH than the Delos, based on simple and precise signalcalculations. The key issue comparing cartridges is the relationship of the voltages vs. the relationship of the source impedances. This defines in essence the relative hum levels. Rel. low impedance / rel. high voltage are desirable. The Koetsus are quite good there, with Delos and others. Jan Allaerts and vdH (?) are more tricky in that regard.
Add to that, that the signal shield of the ET2 must be open for the "mobile" wiring loom. The Ortofon arm is almost completely shielded, except maybe 5 mm with visible wires in the horizontal bearing. In my free external wiring of the ET2 I added a very thin wire from one of the fixing collars of the arm to the ground post. This helps, but not totally cures it.
- A bright timbre of the hum signal hints at stray field coupling (capacitive) - A dark timbre with sometimes some nasty low harmonics hints at a ground loop, ie. magnetic coupling.
Good morning Chris, Thanks for the thorough analysis. You may just sell me on a loom yet. My current ICs are so short there is no room to move them more than a couple of inches. I have a second set that are a little longer I will try moving around a bit. Yes, I've read the posts and reviews that talk about shielding and coloration. The Grover Huffmans, however, do get some terrific user reviews. I should have them next week and will let you know what I hear.
As for the feedback, your idea regarding subwoofer placement is interesting. I'll try moving mine around. I don't think I had the feedback with the spring suspension on the HW-19 but I really like the stability and modest sonic improvements the Herbies Tenderfeet brought to the TT.
Most frustrating is although my two TTs are only two feet apart the Garrard rig is dead quiet and has no feedback. If a Platine appeared at something I could afford, my VPI would be history.
Harry, I came to a conclusion long ago, that this interference is not one large cloud that fills the room. It is pockets of smaller clouds, or picture those laser beams that protect valuables in a vault. This is obvious as you the move the interconnects and the levels change. The trick is to move the wires/IC’s between these pockets, lines of interference. One needs to be the most anal with wiring arrangement, especially with a turntable, when using Single Ended. Imagine using Single Ended with a large Class A amp that uses 450 watts at idle. With all that current there at idle, if there is a cable in a not so great position, this large amp coming to life will tell you.
Shielded IC’s color the sound and take from the small phono signal. It gets absorbed into the material. Depending on the cable manufacturer you get varying colors. This is going by memory from years ago but is as clear as if it was yesterday. I still do own Purist Audio interconnects. I have multiple looms. My first stock ET2 bypass went just past the turntable to the phono box ...then the Purist Audio IC’s to the preamp. I am not saying it did not sound good, but the straight in just good wire loom destroyed it. The Purist Audio IC’s are kept around for the Dynavector tonearm on the Jean Nantais Lenco TT.
If you did one day go to a straight loom, you would need a very short one based on how your gear is set up. This is good. The location of the phono inputs on your preamp is ideal. You want it coming off the tonearm, dropped down and then back up to the preamp. A happy face loop. So it helps if your preamp is on the same level with the turntable to help create that loop. Your performance in audiophile speak would go more live, immediate - Just saying. One of the things the straight loom brings. The ET2 begs for a straight loom with its design. I run mine outside of the tonearm entirely and braided along the armtube to reduce interference. The arm is set up in its entirety without wiring, then the wiring gets added. That way I know there is no wiring effect altering setup which it does do. The ET2 bearing is just too smooth, slippery. Some pull their hair out on setup due to this.
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Acoustic Feedback is always there, and with a turntable cartridge picking up this feedback and sending this signal through, it can create havoc as we know. Any turntable set up on a suspended floor, main floor, is not ideal and you will need to use various "band aids" to fix the sound. I knew one guy whose turntable set up was good, but his subwoofer was placed between the suspended wood beams that supported the floor. It sent vibrations through the floor to his table.
@ct0517 I don't have a straight in loom like you. My loom is terminated in a Cardas phono box with RCA fremale plugs. From the box to preamp I'm using 1 ft lengths of unshielded silver interconnect. The phono inputs on my preamp are on the side of the preamp closest to the TT (not on the back). Following your suggested diagnostics, moving the loom around has no effect on the hum. Moving the interconnect varies the intensity of the hum. So, if my assumption is correct and EMI is the culprit, it is being picked up by the ICs and not the loom. Of course, the ICs are closer to the preamp than the loom.
Acoustic feedback. Yep, I've got it. At listening level, however, it is nearly nonexistent. But, correct me if I'm wrong, the acoustic feedback is distinct from my hum which is there with no tapping and no noise in the room and without the stylus on the still record. It's just another issue for me to obsess about. Right? :)
@slaw . Yes, I'd be interested in your impressions of the Huffman cables. I've ordered his current Empress. Not that I was dissatisfied with the sq of the current cables I'm using in the phono stage. They are quite revealing without being bright or etched. I'm just trying to get rid of the hum. Admittedly, I'm a little OC about the hum as it is not audible at anything close to a reasonable volume.
with volume muted, let tonearm/cart down on a STILL record not moving. unmute - start raising the volume. When the hum is noticeable.
Go to your loom and start moving the wires around one at a time, especially in back of the phono stage. Does the hum get worse or better ?
If it changes, look for the best spot then use blue tac spots to help secure them in place. I use unshielded wire and my setup is quiet with this test, but I did have to spend some time initially moving the wires into the best position behind the preamp.
While you are there, also test for acoustic feedback; this time after you unmute and raise the volume, Start a dance in front/side/back of the turntable with no music - STILL record. What happens ? If nothing. Good.
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A forum thread reminder. It has been my experience on AudioGon, that derogatory comments are usually deleted by the moderator. No exceptions for anyone. Maybe some of mine have been deleted in the past. I don't know as I never go back to check posts; unless i want to use one as a reference link, in a future post.
Hockey comment??? Don’t know what you are referring to? @vpi, You may want to ask yourself, why was the previous post removed? If you ever find that answer, you'll know why I wrote the words you eventually saw.... then posted...@slaw ???????
Some members have enough power to have posts removed even though there are no (rules' violations).
@vpi,
I have quite a bit of experience with Grover’s earlier stuff. Still use some of his power cords. My experience would be only of help to you as to their sonics.
@ct0517,
I can keep on retracing my posts to correct them after you've had the folks at A'gon to remove what may have been seen by you as something other than what you present yourself as....Or you can just let the flow of the flow of the conversation lay where it should? It's up to you my friend?
@frogman and others with HW-19. While "checking things out" the other day I noticed at very high volume levels I have a hum in both channels with my HW-19/ET II/VDH Black Beauty rig. The hum is volume sensitive. It is not present with the Garrard/Ortofon/Delos rig. I went through the grounding rituals and believe that the culprit is EMI and not a ground loop. I'm running only 1 foot of solid silver interconnect which has a cotton cover and no shielding. I tried substituting a 1 meter run of shielded Straightwire cable I wasn't using. This made the hum worse and when I reposition the longer interconnect the hum changes in intensity. Primarily because of this last symptom I believe the hum to be EMI.
The sound is a very low level hum but not a buzz typical to ground loop. It doesn't interfere with listening because at any reasonable volume level it is not audible more than a couple of feet from the speakers. As I know all audiophiles can understand, it is just an itch I cannot scratch.
Reading my ET II manual I see that the ET is supposed to have a ground wire with lug attached to the negative side of one RCA plug in the clear plastic phono box. It is soldered to the negative side of one of the RCA plugs. Mine does not have this ground wire. I have
tried, however, without success, running a ground wire from the RCA plug to my preamp..
Based on my preliminary conclusion that the hum is EMI, I have ordered a set of Grover Huffman Empress interconnects but they have yet to arrive. They are triple shielded and low capacitance. I've tried without success to locate the source of EMI by unplugging everything except my amp and preamp. Actually, the amp is too far away from the TT to be the culprit.
Wondering if you or others have any suggestions. Thanks, Harry
^^^ AWOL ? Slaw, you were, imo, very wise to remove your hockey comment in your previous post. Otherwise I may have been forced to unleash Wile E Coyote on you ; 8^0
**************
This is just for Slaw only.
Game 1 result. Vegas Golden Knights 6 - Washington Capitals 4 Vegas are 500 -1 odds ........ in Vegas. $50 bet brings $25k
Sorry @vpi, I thought you were in a closer location to me.
@ct0517 ,
Chris seems to be possessive of you so I'll just let the invitation lie. If you would like to have a get-together, let me know. Another audio enthusiast and I are interested in a group.
Hopefully this invitation won't be seen as an affront to ct0157.
^^^ as far as cities go. anyone that at the beginning of the hockey season, put good money on the Las Vegas Golden Knights - NHL (National Hockey League) to get into the Stanley Cup Final ....... .can today probably buy their own town, small city.........maybe private island in the tropics.
Vegas Knights NHL fans please don't take this for granted. The City of Toronto has been waiting for this event with their Toronto Maple Leafs since 1967.
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