Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners



Where are you? What mods have you done ?

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 ?
128x128ct0517
The second example occurs at 2:51, also in Brecker's solo. One of the things that made Brecker's sound so distinct was the post-Coltrane technique of "splitting" a note. What is meant by that is that the player is able to play a note and make other notes sound at the same time; gives the sound of that note a very dramatic quality. The way it is accomplished is by (in this case) playing the high G on the tenor by fingering the G an octave below and sounding the harmonic one octave above. In the process, if the player has enough control over the instrument, a third note "E" can be heard; he is in effect playing a chord on a melody instrument.

When tonearm/cartridge settings are not correct, what should be heard as three distinct notes becomes simply distortion in the sound of the note. The closer I get to correct VTA and azimuth, the more distinct the three notes become.

Frogman – your being a musician is obvious and gives you such an advantage when listening to LP’s. What a great post. Your turntable system is an extension of your instruments ?

Look forward to more recommendations from others.

I’d like to recommend Miles Davis KOB a very popular LP that many have and is great sounding. I am not ready to post any remarks on it yet...

Anyone else ?

Thanks, Ct0517. I look forward to your remarks on KOB. It's a fantastic record with well-deserved popularity.
Frogman: A LP we could all agree on introduces a variety of unforseen issues. I understand that some of you are trained musicians with differing perspectives than some of us. Your mention of "Nightfly" is interesting. Yes, I believe it was one of the first digital recordings, still it envokes something, maybe, unexplained within us to envolve ourselves in this music. The musicians of this group and the music lovers may be able to come to an agreement of an appropriate reference lp.

I was reminded recently by a friend that Paul Simon's "There Goes Rhyming Simon" is an excellent recording to understand and descern the complexities of a recording. While it is a kind of (best of), it is an analog recording of excellent quality.

What do you all think?

Having said this, I realized lately that the one thing I neglect to account for in my listening sessions is the tone, etc... of each instrument. While I do notice it, this is an interesting and involving make-up of the recording that is often lost.
I am somewhat concerned that just two of the many posters are interested in a (reference) lp in which to judge.

On-line judging isn't optimal, neither is, up to date reporting of similar components in differing systems on the same tonearm...?

What is the use of all of our spending, listening, comparing and of systems we will never hear or experience together, unless we have a (descent analog) reference in which we can agree on? And even then, It's very Xo%!ing lacking of any validity!
Myself - I was hoping to get a list of lps from this to compare our thoughts and have fun listening to music. I think each of us have 1) a number of lps we really like listening to just for music – and then 2) the go to lps we use to check if all is ok in our own setups according to our preferences ? If those same LP’s fall under 1 and 2 - for me that is ideal. I am 50 so I grew up with a certain type of music but I like to listen to all music. There is no boundary. Over the years I have really enjoyed all of them lps referred to me directly or through a forum like this.
BTW - You will not see a nice review from me as Frogman just did with the Donald Fagen lp. For one I am just not good with words smithing describing music for some reason. But I can tell you why I think the ET2 tonearm is genius in a thousand words if you want. So if someone wants to describe KOB – please do !
I can also listen for specific things if pointed out to me by someone (like Frogman did), that would allow me to know if I had things set up and dialed in properly. This is valuable to me.
I have a Donald Fagen “Nightfly” in the mail. One Paul Simon “There goes Rhyming Simon” coming up.