Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Frogman - There is no way that I could deal with a 100% Mexican Chihuahua. let me explain before people get their shorts in a knot.

As it is "Lucky" , named as such by my daughter and her BF, rescued him; So he is 50% Chihuahua and 50% Jack Russell. This means 50% of the time he is in a Chihuahua barking fit, and the other 50% of the time he is on the other side of the couch staring at me, probably thinking God only knows what thoughts. He is probably thinking why doesn’t this guy give me more treats for being his RCA Victor dog front man. 8^0

Lucky, of course can be found on the first picture of my Audiogon Virtual System. Ok maybe I will give him more treats for pulling that RCA Victor dog duty.

Audiophiles can shoot me if they like, but I find it vastly more interesting looking at pictures of dog and cats, et al ...... in the audio room setting then the gear itself. So boring. Especially Digital Gear. But then I am a career IT guy. My laptop is stuck to my sleeve.

A couple owners have reached out to me privately on proper torquing of the VTA block.  So I thought it would be good to rehash the procedure here now. See the picture 35 on my virtual system for reference. 
   
lt is done with the VTA block - NOT - mounted. Hold in your hand and use the feeler gauge.

The Gap value is arbitrary based on personal preference. Ensure you do not over torque.

Bruce' instructions follow

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.  

Chris,

    My first rule would be to use the short end of the Allen wrench as the lever for torquing any screws on the ET-2. The short lever arm will limit the applied torque.
    For the two bearing blocks that mesh the pinion to the rack in the arc block we first adjust the blocks so that they are parallel to the manifold housing with a .060 -.090 gap between the bearing block and the back adjacent surfaces on the manifold housing.
    The friction between the manifold housing and the arc block define the feel of the VTA mechanism lever action. We want this to offer some resistance, but not too much when a VTA adjustment is attempted. Turn the 4/40 x 3/4 bearing block screws so that some friction is encountered when adjusting VTA but not so much that the VTA mechanism locks up. We would not attempt this adjustment with the tonearm installed on a turntable.
   
  The main failures we see with the arc blocks are:
  1.The threaded insert on back surface of the arc block is cracked due to over torquing of 8-32 stainless steel button head post mounting screw.
  2.The bearing blocks on either side of the arc block which support the pinion gear are over torqued which crushes the pinion into the rack and binds the mechanism, if a VTA change is attempted with over torqued bearing blocks the pinion turns and the rack does not move, stripping the teeth on the rack.

  I hope the above helps

    - brucet

No more arc blocks available?

"overtorqueing" YES! This is the main user issue, that was never addressed in the manual . Why?

^^^^

1) Someone over torques the VTA block bolts.

2) they continue to use VTA, even though something does not feel right.

3) this strips the rack of teeth, creating bald spots, rendering the VTA block useless.

4) Now there is a need to replace the VTA block.  


Please share with the readers here what Bruce' response is.