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 ?
128x128ct0517
Bh80201,
Thanks for chiming in. I need all the help I can get.  Nice rig by the way.

Chris,
I can do a very short run.  My TT sits immediately to the left of the CAT and one of the mods Straightwire did to the CAT was to move the phono in plugs from the back to the left side.  After reading your last I swapped out interconnect.  I'm now using a 1 ft pure silver interconnect.  So total distance from cartridge to CAT is about 2 ft.  The change is subtle, if any.  Of course I'm still going through the din plug at the goose neck and the RCA's at the phono box.  I'm a little intimidated by running hot rod from the cartridge to the CAT.  As you observed regarding your feline, that presents a lot of opportunity to snag that fragile litz.   I'm getting closer to springing for a new wand.  After reading Bruce's description of the mag and cf, it appears the compliance of my Delos is a better match for the mag.  Do you agree?

Not too concerned about wife complaints.  As long as it gets in the house unseen she will never notice.  With the exception of power amp and speakers my whole rig is in a large closet which she never enters.  She is definitely a non-audiophile.  She thinks music is for background noise.

Thanks, 
Harry



bh80231,
Sorry I got your monicker wrong in my prior respons.  Where did you get the way too cool red tips for the ET levers?  As I said to Chris, if I was into cosmetics over sound I wouldn't have an ET, but I gotta get me some of those red tips.
Harry

No worries vpi,

Those are from Lowe's Hardware, in the audiophile aisle...
;)

They are screw protector caps, made to put on the end of screws to keep from catching or cutting yourself, you can find all colors, try Ace, Home Depot, Lowes... usually in the speciality hardware section. 

Regarding troughs, mine had the little end cap fall out and subsequently disappeared, so I have no "end" for mine currently, need to craft a fix for that.
Bruce’s description of the mag and cf, it appears the compliance of my Delos is a better match for the mag. Do you agree?

Harry

here is the ET2 Wand Guideline and some thoughts.


Guideline

Aluminum Wand ----------->Carbon Fiber Wand ----------->Magnesium Wand

Carts
High Compliance ----- ->Medium to Low Compliance ---> Low Compliance

So.
If you only had one wand and play

Higher compliance MM ...........................................Go with Aluminum Wand

Higher compliance MM / med - low compliance MC .......Go with the CF Wand

Only use low compliance MC. ......................Go with the Magnesium Wand

The CF wand is the best all around wand. If you send Bruce an extra aluminum wand, he will wrap it for you and convert it to a Carbon Fiber wand.
***************************************

With that as we know this vinyl is all about resonances and vibrations. Anyone that is using a low compliance MC with the aluminum wand has done "mods", "tweaks" in their system chain somewhere to make it work.

If you go through this thread you know that members like Frogman, Richard Krebs Dover at the top of head, plus others, all did extensive mods to their ET2 aluminum wands / and to run lower compliance MC among other carts.

In the picture that BH’ attached - Hi BH’... been a long time - nice setup and nice avatar :^)

He appears to be using an aluminum wand with an MC ? It is hard to tell if it has the CF wrap on it. Are you still using the single leaf spring BH?

When I used an MM on the Magnesium wand it was absolutely strident. Even though the cart sounded fine with the aluminum and CF wands. This tells me the Mag wand really is for Low compliance and maybe a point of no return :^0

***********************************

So Logic tells us that if someone made a Low compliance MC work with their Aluminum Wand; should they then introduce the Big Dog Mag wand; they most certainly will be making changes to their system, even though the guidelines say they (Low Compliance MC/ Mag Wand) are the best combo together. Make sense ?

******************************

the single shot wiring deserves a separate discussion.
It is filled with frustrations in fighting physics, but the reward is worth it in the end. The key is not to fight physics. Braiding wires is great for dealing with interference, but not so good in allowing the ET2 to have freeplay. The solution you go with will be determined by your turntable plinth style. You can take this one to the bank.

I found a compromise works well. We can discuss more.

Harry - some Canadian perspective for you on the cost of that Mag armwand.

$575 US dollars is now $775 Cdn. dollars ....... :^(

The differences between the Aluminum and Mag wands for readers.

Click on this link.

https://goo.gl/photos/Rjcvbjfrms23zc1M6

Cheers Chris

Hi Chris, yes, had not enabled the "watch" on this thread, so was oblivious until recently it had restarted. 

I indeed have 2 aluminum wands and yes, running LOMC's - Ortofon Quintet Black (boron cantilever), Ortofon Quintet Mono, and an AT33PTG/II.

I have had different wraps on them in the past, and stuffed foam inside too (what is your stance on that?), but they are naked now.
I have ordered my own sheet of CF wrap though, so am going to give that a try.

I do still have the original single leaf, but seeing your post I did write (again) to Bruce yesterday, so might change that up too.

And I am shamed into knowing I need to clean the manifold too! Although I do have dual inline filters and dry Colorado air in my favor.

Oh, and out of order, but Bruce recommended this pump to me a few months back, so am running this now, is performing well, very quiet.