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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
vpi's avatar
vpi
223 posts
 
@frogman Yes, I remember now you are the VPI aficionado.  I've read posts by several people who, like you, don't care for sorbothane as a spring replacement but the sorbothane/cone combination makes sense.  I have several of the pucks you describe and a bunch of cones ( metal and ceramic). I'll have to try it out.  The Herbies feet are much firmer than sorbothane so I don't think I'm seeing a lot of compliance at the top plate either.

Like bdp24, many like the Sims navcom pucks.  Alas, they are no longer made and hard to find on the used market.  

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 

Michael Percy sells a product that HW-19 owners may want to try. It is made by well-known commercial isolation product specialist company EAR, and is named the Isoloss Sandwich Mount. It is intended for use on circuit boards, but the EAR Isoloss material has properties also well suited for turntable isolation applications. And, two of the sizes the Mount is offered in are perfect for the HW-19: about 1/3" tall with 4-40 threads, same as those used on the table's motor plate stand-offs; and 5/8" tall and in diameter, with 1/4-20 threads, same as the threads used in the spring suspension.

The Sandwich Mount has a short male threaded stud on one end (1/2", in the case of the 1/4-20), with internal female threads on the opposite, flat rubber side. Each 1/4-20 size Mount can support 12 lbs., so a set of four can be used with even a TNT platter-fitted HW-19 (whose steel/acrylic sub-chassis weighs 18.6 lbs., the TNT platters 15-20). And, the threaded male stud allows the Mount to provide height-adjustment/leveling of the suspended sub-chassis. Only $5.95 each---I think I'm going to order a set. I have the original, stock springs (with the little plastic top caps fitted with 3 ball bearings), a set of Herbies Tall Firm Tenderfeet, and SIMS Navcom Silencers, all of which I intend to compare with the EAR Mounts. Those interested can read about the mount on Michael Percy's website.

vpi's avatar
vpi
223 posts
 
@bdp24  Thanks for very helpful info.  Please let us know how your comparisons work out.

ct0517's avatar
ct0517 OP
2,041 posts
 
Bdp24
Brooks Berdan was a big fan of the Oracle Delphi (he even came up with a mod for it, which Oracle ended up copying), to which he mounted many of the Eminent Technology arm. But when the HW-19 (and then the TNT) was introduced, he switched allegiance to that high mass design for use with the ET, feeling it provided a better platform for the moving mass of the arm’s wand.


here is an Oracle ET combo here.

Remember, there are over 2500 Et2’s out there. I suspect more and more vinyl combos to come available in the near future, as some owners have passed on, or are at that point in time where "convenience" with Audio has become the most important priority to them.

bdp24 (Eric)

I never owned the Canadian Oracle, but did own the Harry Weisfeld Mark 4 Piano Black and the more expensive TNT (which was designed as we know in a collaboration between Harry VPI and Bruce - ET. That collaboration ended, as all business relationships do; I suspect when Harry introduced his own tonearm.

Both these tables HW19-4 and TNT were designed and built to certain price points. In analysis (past) of manufacturer turntable builds in general, I have noticed that "one" of the areas that designers put their focus on as price levels increase, is in the table’s tolerances.

If one is in Audiophile Mode and looking for more performance, for either the stock HW19 and TNT, having owned them; improvements can be made to elevate the ET2 performance by upgrading the turntable’s

1) Bearing 2) Suspension (4 pods on the TNT) 3) Rubber belt drive system.

For myself I discovered that these areas were a type of bottleneck to my ET2’s performance, in my system kit and space at that time. This became the most evident to me after the ET2 was put on other tables, SP10MKII and Nantais Lenco, with the same cartridge in my space; as well as being compared with Tape R2R - 15 IPS,

Pic 28 in my virtual system shows what mods I ended up when I owned the TNT, to allow it to come closer to the speed stability of the SP10 and the Nantais Lenco groove factor.


bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 
@ct0517, the expensive VPI’s use the same cr*ppy Hurst motor as the cheapest! I recently got myself an Aries 1 for peanuts (specifically as a platform for the TransFi Terminator arm), and it is really a TNT with a smaller footprint (22" x 16")---the TNT was too d*mn big. One way to elevate any of the VPI’s is with the Phoenix Engineering Falcon or Eagle PSU’s, and Roadrunner tachometer.
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