Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Happy New Year to all!Hi Chris, this two remarks of yours are still open:

Pegasus:
Non changing VTF is a question of having the centre of gravity aligned with the vertical bearing when floating the arm. This is not an exclusive feature of the ET2 arm, there are more that are concipied this way AFAIR. 

AFAIR - as far as I remember.  

Oh wondrous flying Greek horse - 8^0 - please do tell of another design that strives for this high level .... and achieves it. If you don't post back I will assume none exist.

 
I don't know if we understood each other correctly: I was speaking about static balance around the vertical axis, which defines if tracking force is stable with changing height of arm/VTA....AFAIR: 
- Any "standard" arm, with a straight tube (as seen from the side), a concentric counterweight and a vertical bearing axis crossing the arm tube in the center of the tube is in principle (almost) correct.
- The ET2 is not different in that regard from arms like the Rega, or the Graham Robin eg. 
It is easier though to correct the ET2 precisely, with the vertical position of the counterweight.
But... who does this precisely – and how?- Most unipivots try to stabilize the bearing by placing the counterweight below the (vertical ? :-) bearing, which introduces varying tracking force with height/VTA.

Pegasus:
From the info in your posts here, I recommend you remove your VTA block, re-align with a feeler gauge. re-install, and if not level... (leaning tower)... it's something before it causing your symptoms. I would not install the bearing, armtube, end I Beam until this was resolved.

Humble horse, although a racing horse, listened to massa Chris :-)
- I checked on a "spare" ET2 (Yes I have one... :-) and dismounted the VTA block. Yes, the engineering, idea and precision are admirable.
Yes, some people torqued the VTA block much too much like the pre-owner / pre-setup man (are there any setup-woman...?). But not me...
Two "axe blocks" left/right side of the VTA adjustment axe press the axe with the VTA mounting block to the air bearing block. Both "axe blocks" should exert the same force onto the axe, most easily done by precise adjustment of the gaps for equal depth.
- This was/is correct on my arm.
- I tested if changing the VTA with the VTA lever affects lateral levelness of the arm. It still does, lateral levelness is sligthly different with height, repeatable for different settings, some positions good, some a bit less so. Not to an obvious degree, but IME to a degree that necessitates rechecking lateral levelness after resetting VTA, based on my listening experience, specially in its effect on the bass.
Sorry for the still not totally happy news :-)
This is in my system with two twisted naked 0.1 mm silver wires,  two L/R independent caple looms in a ca. 10cm diameter, very low torque on the arm apparently.

Pegasus
This is in my system with two twisted naked 0.1 mm silver wires, two L/R independent caple looms in a ca. 10cm diameter, very low torque on the arm apparently.

Pegasus
You have spoken repeatedly about your wire setup but have never been generous enough to share pictures of it to those in this forum. It is a new year and pictures are worth a thousand words. I ask you to share again. if you would like send me the pic and I will post for you.

From my experience the best wiring setup is to have the wiring come off the armtube down into a happy face loop. I discovered this during my armpod experiments. The wires, going down into a happy face loop after the armtube have the least effect on the movement of the air bearing spindle. Remember the ET2 is a free bird, unlike say the Kuzma Airline for example; does not need the wiring and airline for damping. Different design. Those that have wiring arranged in a Kuzma Airline type setup, on their ET2, are asking for trouble. Your wiring is controlling the spindle and will make you think maybe things are not level with its pushes and pulls. My Verdier uses a tall Solid Aluminum pillar for an armboard, that is bolted to the plinth, so the wires come down naturally. The ET2 really does like to be placed on a pedestal. I show pictures of this wiring set up on my virtual page.

I am reposting a thread archive shot of Frogman’s wiring set up for everyone benefit here also. Frogman, I hope you do not mind ? 8^0

Frogmans wiring

For anyone using a plinth that was fairly flat with the armboard (like here with FM’s TNT), this is IMO, a great arrangement and the way I would do it also, if I had a flat plinth. Notice the happy face loop coming off the end of the armtube.

Hi Chris,

I guess I’m missing something regarding the post I made above. and then your response...

How can the VTF not be changed when one changes VTA by using the arc block design of the ET? This will either move the overhang out or in depending upon the necessary adjustment....right?..therefore altering S2P distance and VTF.

From my memory, this fact is not stated in the manual

...going only by memory???

Early on in this thread I addressed this issue this way... when I set up the arm, I used my most played record weight/height/thickness as my reference and used this to set up the arc block in (it’s center) regarding the latter record height preference. I referred to this as the "neutral zone".

Any deviation from this "zone" is a result of a VTA adjustment on the ET’s arc block that alters in some way the SRA, the S2P, the VTF. None of this is mentioned in the manual.

So... as all of this relates to why I posted above to another member...

He had so many system changes in play, and seemingly a lot of basic arm set-up issues, yet seemingly wanted a direct response to one/two issues..... Impossible!

Slaw (Steve)

Regarding your VTA question - I find it rather odd from a previous owner/user of this tonearm ...how many years ? ... to be asking this question. This ET2 patented VTA feature is in fact what distinguishes it from all other tonearms including other air bearings. Bruce understood that records come with varied included cut angles, so he designed a tonearm to easily deal with them. 

Now the smart designer in whatever field, would never discuss secrets about how a patented design works .......in an Owners manual.
  
To use this VTA feature properly, and to see how it executes, is to understand it. Period. And we have discussed it in this thread previously.  
  
Your question therefore indicates to me that either your setup was off, you just never understood it, or maybe a combination.   

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As some of the ET2 owners here are Johnathan Carr fans I will let him re-affirm things.

This is for SLAW and it is also for PEGASUS

Jcarr and the ET2 VTA

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for those not wanting to click on the link. 

Jonathan Carr

However, as I recently wrote in Stereophile, the construction of every tonearm that I am aware of (with the sole exception of the Eminent Technology linear trackers) guarantees that altering SRA will simultaneously cause the effective length to change, along with the tracking force.

To make sure that any SRA-induced audible changes are truly attributable to SRA rather than sundry alignment shifts that came along for the ride, you must recheck the overhang and tracking force and "put them back" to what they were prior to the VTA change.

At the end of the day, you may ponder about the real value of "VTA on-the-fly" mechanisms (grin).

kind regards, jonathan