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 ?
ct0517
Ct0517, At CES Franc K. mentioned a horizontal mass of around 100gm for Airline. He said that this worries some pivot arm guys, though in practice is "no big deal" w/r to LF performance. The Airline interests me as well-- incredible fit n' finish. I've read that one of its key advantages is very tight bearing clearance. At the high pressure necessary to float a "hard" captured air bearing of small surface area, this implies a low rate of airflow and thus relatively low turbulence and vibration.

Terminator can be mounted on pretty much any turnable. Porting the arm across turntables requires pedestals of varying heights to match the varying distance from a particular arm board to the top of the turntable mat. The pedestal can be ordered with an off-set stud mount that spins to accomodate any existing armboard hole vacated by any pivot arm. I made a DIY brass pedestal with this feature.
Thekong
Actually, I have also fabricated a fixed counterweight for my ET2.5, but unfortunately have no time to test it yet. When it happens, the ET would be compared to my favorite arm, the Rockport 6000!

Thekong – look forward to your impressions of the ET 2.5. Do you know what table it will be going on? I came across this pic in this other thread. Is this still your setup ?

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1301061425&openflup&16&4#16

Very nice - btw

Cheers
DG - thanks for that info. Curious if Frank K happened to mention to you what his favourite tonearm was - of the ones he makes.
Hi Ct0517,

Yes, that Rockport Capella II is still my main turntable. When ready, the ET2.5 will be set on the brass armboard opposite to the Rockport 6000. Actually, you can see a bit of the ET at the left edge of that photo already, just that the whole counterweight assembly was not installed yet!

BTW, the Rockport 6000 can also be installed on nearly all turntables!
The Kuzma looks like a nice arm, but one thing that always made me scratch my head is the air supply tube. We ET-2 owners pay so much attention to tonearm wire routing. What about that stiff plastic tubing on the Kuzma? It seems like it would have a huge effect on the arm's movement even if both of the fittings swiveled. Does anyone know any details about the tube's fittings or if it hinders the arm's movement?