Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Ct0517
While your freezer is plugged into a separate outlet, since it's also in the basement along with your pump it's probably on the same circuit ( both units controlled by the same circuit breaker ). If they're on the same circuit, the refrigerator compressor motor could very easily cause interference with the pump. The remotes ( you can find them on EBay ) are pretty cheap for a one outlet model ) so it wouldn't cost a lot to try one. There is also the X-10 type controllers and appliance modules that send the control signals over the house wiring. They may work as well .

When setting up my ET2 I found that leveling the arm wasn't easy even using the set up jig. I tried to come up with an easier solution that could be used to make sure the arm was level at any time and would make adjustment and readjustment a snap. This is my solution. Obtain a One Sided Record ( a record recorded on one side only with the other side blank- you have to make sure the other side is completely smooth as I have found some have large grooves on the blank side ).
Then lower the arm onto the spinning record. Adjust the two leveling screws on the mounting post until the arm stays in the same place without sliding back or forth. Lock down the two locking screws and that's it. To check if the leveling needs readjustment just play the blank sided record and see if the arm still stays in the same place or starts to slide in one direction or the other.

Ct0517
Thanks for your response. I have my Silentaire compressor in another room and also wanted a turnkey operation so I could turn it on & off from my listening room. The solution is one of the wireless ( rf not infrared ) remote switched outlets that you can buy online. Press a button on the remote and on goes your compressor. Another press and it's off. If you have an in line pressure gauge near your et-2 you can tell when the compressor is on and off. Just make sure that your compressor is within the specified operating range of the remote.

Slaw
The arm was lowered onto a spinning Blank ( no grooves at all ) record and the leveling screws adjusted until there was no drift in either direction. I know this method is not appropriate for pivoted tone arms but it seemed it should be OK for air bearing tangential tonearms. If there are reasons not to use this method I'd appreciate the information.

If the record is perfectly level then I don't see how my method would take the spindle out of level with the record surface but would make sure the spindle was level with the record. If the record is level the stylus should drift in or out out if the spindle isn't level. If the spindle is parallel with the record surface but the platter and record surface isn't level I believe that this would cause the stylus to drift in or out depending whether the spindle was higher or lower than the edge of the platter.

If the record is perfectly level then I don't see how my method would take the spindle out of level with the record surface but would make sure the spindle was level with the record. If the record is level the stylus should drift in or out out if the spindle isn't level. If the spindle is parallel with the record surface but the platter and record surface isn't level I believe that this would cause the stylus to drift in or out depending whether the spindle was higher or lower than the edge of the platter.

Slaw,
I appreciate your posts ( and humor ). I'm not as anal regarding my audio system as some other members. My hearing isn't as good as it once was ( a misspent youth doing a lot of target shooting without hearing protection ) so don't have the ability to hear many of the nuances that the various tweaks and upgrades to the ET2 provide. I love the construction and mechanical operation of the arm ( and the sound it provides ) and enjoy reading about the various mods, tweaks and upgrades that members undertake even though I'm unable to appreciate them myself. My HW19 Mk IV with Super Platter, SAMA, Walker Motor Controller and ET2 ( HP manifold ) with a Sumiko Talisman Virtuoso dti cartridge is one of my favorite turntables ( I currently have 8 ).

The interesting thing about the HP manifolds is that Bruce will still supply them for the ET2 on special order for only $300. I know because I got one for each of my ET2 arms ( one with and one without the damper trough ).

He just sent me the manifolds. He never asked me to send him my spindles and both manifolds work just fine without any play at all.

All 8 are set up and individually switchable in or out of my system. To make matters even worse I have 5 more that aren't set up ( talk about a TT junkie ). The ones set up are my VPI HW 19 MK IV with the ET2, a Merrill Heirloom TT fully upgraded by Anthony Scillia with all his mods and upgrades with a Triplanar VII U2 arm, an Amazon 2 TT with a Kuzma Stogi Ref 313VTA arm, a Townshend Rock 7 with a Helius Omega 10" arm, a Townshend Elite II TT with a Townshend Excaliber arm, a Marantz SLT U TT ( the original linear TT ), a Sony FL77 Biotracer linear TT and a Sony FL 7 linear TT. And if that's not enough, I have a PTP Audio Solid 9 TT on order which I'm going to pair with a VIV labs 7" Rigid Float Tonearm I already have.

I finally got my ET-2 installed on my VPI HW-19 MK IV ( that has the Super Platter installed ) . Due to the Super Platter being 1/2" thicker than the MK IV platter ( which requires a 1" thick armboard ) I had to have a custom armboard made that was 1-1/2" thick. Because the Super Platter is also 1/2" larger in diameter than the MK IV Platter I also had to have the top 1" of the armboard 3/8" narrower than the lower 1/2" piece so the platter would clear the side of the armboard. Works perfectly.
I tried my Medo AC110 pump with my HP manifold but as another member stated it will only supply 8-1/2 psi.
Since other members have stated that higher pressures than the 7+ Bruce recommends work better I began my quest for a higher pressure source that had relatively low noise ( I had my AC110 in a sound proofed box with a cooling fan in another room and I could still faintly hear it ).
After a lot of searching I found the Silentaire Super Silent 20-A compressor. It's very quiet ( 30 db ). In fact, it's so quiet that the cooling fan I'm using ( the compressor is only rated for 50% operation ) is far louder than the compressor itself. I have the compressor in an adjoining room and there is absolutely no noise audible. With the fan the compressor only gets warm at 15psi and will supply up to 50 psi though running it at higher pressures will cause it to cycle more frequently with an increase in heat.
The compressor is quiet enough to be placed in the same room as your equipment depending on what pressure you're going to run it at and whether you want to use a cooling fan.

The way the ET-2 is normally wired has always been an issue for me when deciding how best to mount it on my TT. Because the tonearm wires are soldered directly to the RCA jacks in the RCA box or mounting plate and the wire is supposed to be fed through a hole in the armboard to create a loop, installing or removing the spindle or manifold requires desoldering the wires and pulling them out of the hole. This is a major PITA and doesn't make installation an easy process.
While I realize that adding additional connections to the audio chain may have negative consequences, this may be balanced against making installation, removal and adjustment an easier process.
My solution was instead of soldering the tonearm wires to the RCA jacks, I instead soldered them to a 4 pin Lemo plug ( the same one used by VPI on their Memorial Tonearms ). I obtained a VPI Tonearm junction box which I mounted to the top of the plinth with Velcro tape. It was then easy to mount and align the mounting post to my armboard without worrying about the manifold-spindle assembly. I then mounted the manifold assembly to the mounting post & aligned it. I plugged the Lemo connector into the junction box & it works fine. I can unplug the Lemo connector & remove the whole manifold assembly in a minute. While there are the additional connections created by using the Lemo connectors, the convenience in mounting & adjusting far outweigh any sonic degradation for me. YMMV.