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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A lot of passion, indeed; and, I am impressed at the fine level of nuance that you are able to hear and able to describe.  Harry, no shame due for wondering if raising the arm board might be a step backwards in transparency; it's always a possibility that would be hopefully offset by the gains from proper VTA adjustability. Sometimes we have to give up a little somewhere to gain something more important elsewhere.  Glad to hear you don't think you've had to give anything up and the magic is back.  I did have a thought about something that I am surprised we all overlooked (I think) when discussing your VTA issues.  The HW19 MkIV platter itself can be raised or lowered by turning the bearing's thrust plate.  When I had the MKIV I had the platter just barely clearing the table's top plate.  How much clearance do you have?  Lowering the platter may get you some more (or easier) VTA adjustability.  Btw, the extra armboard will go out this morning; had to get through a very busy weekend.  Let us know how it all works out. 
Hey Harry,
I'm happy as well that you're enjoying the arm. By the way what loading are you using on the Lyra Delos cartridge? I'm at 100 ohms with the Lyra Kleos, but using some pretty low capacitance pure silver interconnect (old AQ diamond X2) from the junction box to my phono preamp ( total capacitance 60 pf using Bruce's standard harness). -Lyra states their cartridges don't do well with high capacitance cable. So. I'm trying to keep it as low as possible. At 100 ohms, the base is incredible and vibes come thru perfectly.
Regards,
John
Hi Frogman,
Guess I didn't know the platter height was adjustable.  I'm about 1/4 inch + above the plinth.  It would have been interesting to try.  Not possible now unless I lower the arm board because my platter extends just a hair over the arm board and the clearance there is very small.  I must confess while I've read about bearings and thrust plates for years related to TT maintenance, I'm not sure I know what the thrust plate is or how to adjust it.  Good lord, not something else to adjust?!

I too am rather surprised at what I can hear.  I'm 73 and spent 5 years as a Naval Flight Officer so I do have some hearing loss.  I doubt I have anything left above 8-9k hz.  That said, I can hear room, air and low level detail on well done recordings.  Guess it is the harmonics.  I suspect my hearing loss contributes to the difficulty I have with VTA adjustment.  I think sometimes in search of the higher frequencies I tend to push the cartridge nose down too much.  But I'm learning.
Cheers,
Harry

Hi John,
I'm using 1 ft long pure silver unshielded, cotton insulated interconnect from junction box to my CAT SL-1 which  is supposed to be 47k ohm.  The IC is made by a fellow in Texas and is sold only on eBay.  I don't know it's capacitance.  It should be pretty low.
Cheers, 
Harry
Hey Harry,
I asked what load you were using on the Delos because my Kleos is very similar.
I found 100 ohms worked best for me. Very much higher made the highs get a touch strident. What have you found? It was easy to switch loads with the ARC ph-5 on the fly with the remote, and I could tell instantly which was best.
John