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 ?
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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.
I'm happy to go along with what others have. I also have an original WB Donald Fagan & a Japanees copy also. Of course I have an original "There Goes Rymin' Simon". I'm sure I could help with a larger list guys. Actually, HP put "Negotions and Love Songs" on the TAS list years ago. "Bookends" is probably my favorite lp of all time. We can sure go in another direction. I have a KOB but not sure of it's quality.
I too am happy to go along with recordings that other have. KBO is a no-brainer, the Simon is also good. No reason not to use more than one recording; including the Fagen. Re the Fagen, and some general comments applicable to all (IMO):

While it may seem anathema to use a digital recording (LP) for an experiment such as this, there is no reason not too when we consider that what we are looking at is the ability of the arm/cart setup to retrieve the info in the grooves for us to compare. Obviously, the digital recording should be an exceptional one; and wether we like to admit or not, there
are some. I like the idea of analyzing and comparing tonal qualities, but for that to be meaningful we have to be very specific and use either personal experiences of live music attendance, and/or comparisons to other LP's; in order to establish a meaningful benchmark. I don't think that comments about "the voice sounds a little bright in the upper range" will suffice. Brightness to one listener is clarity to another; unless we can also say "on this other LP XYZ, I heard a similar effect (at a specific point on the rec)". Then, we can establish some sort of pattern that will be meaningful. This could be a very rewarding experiment.
It might be useful to agree on a few tracks that reveal stubborn sibilance problems-- perhaps a female voice. These can be revealing of subtle problems in all but the most optimal phono set-ups. I'll ponder which albums may be helpful.