Hi Thom,
I owned an ET 2.5 for many years. The only real maintenance that it required was cleaning the manifold with alcohol every six months or so. If I forgot to do the maintenance, the tonearm would start skipping at the end of LPs where the music went in close to the label. No damage done to the LP or cartridge that I could discern. On the other hand aligning cartridges was a breeze on the ET 2.5. Since I swap cartridges many times over a six month period, I would gladly clean the manifold if I did not have to agonize over adjusting alignment with each cartridge change.
I would love to have a linear tracker again. The Kuzma air bearing is on my dream list. Guess I will just have to live with my VPI 12.5 and Schroeder Reference until I win the lotto.
With regards to periphery clamps I understand your concern. I would not want to own a TT with a vacuum holddown for fear of the needle getting caught between the outer edge of the LP and the rubber surround. Talked to a SOTA owner that had his cantilever natched out of the cartridge when that happened. On the other hand, not all periphery rings are created alike. I own one that is manufactured by Rudolf A. Bruil, of the Netherlands. This periphery ring sits on top of the LP and the inner most part of it sits slightly above the LP. As you feared, in the semi-dark I did drop the tonearm too far out and the stylus dropped onto the rotating metal periphery ring. No damage done. The stylus stayed on top of the metal ring as it rotated until I lifted the arm up and moved it closer to the spindle. Even if I had knocked the stylus off of the ring, it still could not have gotten wedged between the metal and the LP as the inner edge of the ring is raised above the LP.
I owned an ET 2.5 for many years. The only real maintenance that it required was cleaning the manifold with alcohol every six months or so. If I forgot to do the maintenance, the tonearm would start skipping at the end of LPs where the music went in close to the label. No damage done to the LP or cartridge that I could discern. On the other hand aligning cartridges was a breeze on the ET 2.5. Since I swap cartridges many times over a six month period, I would gladly clean the manifold if I did not have to agonize over adjusting alignment with each cartridge change.
I would love to have a linear tracker again. The Kuzma air bearing is on my dream list. Guess I will just have to live with my VPI 12.5 and Schroeder Reference until I win the lotto.
With regards to periphery clamps I understand your concern. I would not want to own a TT with a vacuum holddown for fear of the needle getting caught between the outer edge of the LP and the rubber surround. Talked to a SOTA owner that had his cantilever natched out of the cartridge when that happened. On the other hand, not all periphery rings are created alike. I own one that is manufactured by Rudolf A. Bruil, of the Netherlands. This periphery ring sits on top of the LP and the inner most part of it sits slightly above the LP. As you feared, in the semi-dark I did drop the tonearm too far out and the stylus dropped onto the rotating metal periphery ring. No damage done. The stylus stayed on top of the metal ring as it rotated until I lifted the arm up and moved it closer to the spindle. Even if I had knocked the stylus off of the ring, it still could not have gotten wedged between the metal and the LP as the inner edge of the ring is raised above the LP.