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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
richardkrebs
353 posts
 
Dover.
I pretty much agree with everything you say. Where we diverge is in the sublties. It is easy to add too much mass in the horizontal plane. I went there in my tests. The trick is finding a compromise point.
Dynavector put the reason for high horizontal mass far better than I could. I agree with their conclusions.
Sarcher30 Dynavector's quote covers their views on this.
Further, from memory, the ET in standard form has a horizontal to vertical effective mass ratio of around 6:1. So it is already a differential mass arm. It is just that in my view this ratio is not enough. As per before I don't care what people think about this, they are free to give it a go, or not.
Also as before, I like what Mag dampening does right, I just cannot put up with what it does wrong.
john47
50 posts
 
“Magnetic dampening will vary with the speed of horizontal motion whereas the added mass approach is simply increasing static inertia considerably.”

"The magnetic dampening only commences its action once the arm starts moving, and is proportional to the rate of movement. I should point out that the dampening is created by eddy currents which are only generated when the arm moves relative to the magnet."

How was no static magnetic effect achieved: did you switch off the magnet?
dover
1,165 posts
 
John47 - you misunderstand how it works. It is not magnetism that provides the dampening. It is the eddy currents created when the arm moves across the magnet. Read this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_current
Eddy currents (also called Foucault currents[1]) are electric currents induced within conductors by a changing magnetic field in the conductor. These circulating eddies of current have inductance and thus induce magnetic fields. These fields can cause repulsive, attractive,[2] propulsion, drag and heating effects.
john47
50 posts
 
"you misunderstand how it works".

Not so.

Please reread my post.

I was referring specifically to the static effect - hold a magnet near apppropriate metal: does it have zero effect?
john47
50 posts
 
Of course much more important is what effect do these eddy currents have - must have negative effects. Has it ever been objectified ?
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