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 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.
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1200430667&openflup&7787&4#7787

Guys - I have tried to locate 420str's for our comparative listening. I feel if we are using the same cartridge this will be more valuable. This 420str cartridge is a great candidate for this as it is affordable and great sounding -when setup properly.

I have had a couple of responses already. It is my intent to just be a go between (seller and yourself) to make this happen if u are if interested. I will insist on paypal as well. This way there will be no double paypal and shipping charges.

If you are interested in a 420 str. Please let me know.

bcpguy(@)bell(.)net

remove parentheses when replying

DG thanks for reminding me they were about 80 euros including shipping.
Although I'm no longer using the ET2 at the moment, one record I found that is readily attainable is Joe Jackson's Jumping Jive. On the track titled "Five guys named Moe" there is a part where Moe is repeated 5 times. With the ET2 you can clearly hear each utterance and the position, starts front slightly right of centre and each "moe" is behind and to the left of each preceding one. The ET2 is the only arm I have found that captures this positioning in space so clearly.
I don't know what direction you are wanting to go, but I was floored with The Who's "Live at Leeds", while using the Acutex 420 on my Trans-fi arm.

Recommend you at least give it a listen individually if it is not where you choose to go.