Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Hello all,
Been away for a while.  Spring has arrived in Western Carolina and my mini farm has been demanding attention.

John,
I don't know what Calypsos and Callistos are so I guess I don't have either.  Enlighten me.  I agree, with my Delos level and all other parameters set I find myself playing with VTA less and less.

Chirs,
My complaints were just poking fun at myself.  All of these choices/tweaks, aside from being a great learning experience, have brought me a whole lot of great listening.  I agree, don't start playing with the sub until everything else is set up to your liking.  I don't run my sub from the preamp and only use the crossover in the sub for setting the upper limit for sub.  Main speakers are driven directly from power amp and sub driven from power amp to high level inputs on sub.

You straight in loom guys are ganging up on me.  It's not that I don't believe you.  I'm just intimidated by the thought of all that loose wire hanging all over my ET II.

Bill Evans is calling,

Harry

Hey Harry,
I was mixed up about which preamp you were using. Sorry.
I'm with you on the loom thing. My AQ interconnects with the DBS system are working just fine (it apparently keeps the dielectric in the cables constant), and the original litz wire from Bruce effects the arm balance not at all. There are trade offs in everything. I'm sure that a straight shot from cartridge to preamp with a loom would sound great, but I simply don't want to take everything apart and start over again. 
-John

You straight in loom guys are ganging up on me.

Damn straight shooters .....8^0

Choices are clear to me. One can walk around the forest, or go through it.

Harry - re: your mini farm comment.
Farms, gardens, even "lawns" are a lot of work. Lawns around here are going to hell with the Pesticide ban. Controlling ones lawn has become a very difficult thing. Friends cross the border into the US at Niagara Falls to purchase (Killex) at big box stores; then smuggle it back.

My neighbor’s "hobby" is his lawn. He goes out there and picks the weeds out one by one.

and the original litz wire from Bruce effects the arm balance not at all.

IMO, The best way to determine this John is with Gravity and physics. Forget the bubble levels. Move your arm to different spots on the platter. With air on - place the cartridge weight blue tac blob on the weights. Make it free float. If the spindle does not move it is balanced. Try it at the lead in, middle and run out grooves.

I should put this much detail into my lawn. :^(

Hey Chris,
I've always balanced my arm that way. Doesn't everyone? I don't use the damping trough, however. I'm also only using 7.5 psi on the arm, as that's the best two wisa pumps in parallel can do. Am I missing something here?
-John

John
The owners I have talked with before this thread started used to use bubble levels. If one really wants to find out the wiring effect (push and / or pull)... set the arm up without the wiring. Then add the wiring in and find out the truth. This is how I do regular setup. If one were a wire loom swapper kind of audiophile - which I am not. It would take all of 10 minutes to swap out entire wire looms using the wiring layout I am using.

As far as PSI - people should be using the PSI designed for the manifold by Bruce. If someone picks up a used ET2 and this is unknown - we have discussed the process on how to determine the PSI. If anyone wants to rehash, then lets rehash. Higher PSI won’t harm things unless you go over 19 psi. We can discuss why this is too if someone wants. There is a reason Bruce designed my ET 2.5 for 19 PSI.

With that it bears repeating that if someone is using higher PSI and it sounds better, it is likely because;

1) air flow quality is better over the previous pump - not because of the higher PSI.
2) your manifold capillaries are partially clogged.

If using the original pump on a stock ET2 - the pump may be producing PSI but it is unlikely the diaphragm is in spec. Air flow quality suffers.

The ET2 is like an Olympic runner when it comes to good air flow. The better the flow, the better the operation, and therefore the sound. If we analyze how other air bearing tonearms work, it is really quite fascinating (to me), how different each design is.

Cheers Chris