Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Hi Mkieser! I assume you checked this, but in case not...
It's quite easy to upset the lateral balance of the arm while changing cartridges or arm wands. Did you carefully check levelness?I had issues with levelness even when using the VTA adjustment. So my recommandation is to always recheck for levelness after changing the VTA, or touching the VTA adjustment. And I think changing a cartridge or arm wand would apply for the same.
Horizontal off-levelness skews the tonality of the cartridge and deteriorates bass quality to a surprising the degree.
Another variable for somebody with a good aural memory is the tightness of all used screws and connections.IME lowest possible torque sounds best. I use only as much as to prevent slipping of the connections or the cartridge.
Your opinion might vary, but at least play and check these things.

Thanks for the responses.  I'm going to revisit my setup yet again this evening and get back.  It's a lot to take in.  At some point I'll update my virtual system with more recent pics of my turntable.  I've made a few tweaks that I haven't seen mentioned in this forum. 

BTW it's Mike Kiser.  Just jumping in to say that I've posted some turntable and tonearm pictures in my virtual forum.  Amp and speakers are in a state of flux, so for now it's just turntable pictures.  As long as I'm here I just want to thank you guys for your insights over all the years.  I haven't solicited much advice directly but have followed a lot of the threads with interest.  Probably the thing I've learned most from this forum is the importance of balance, and the wonderful? world of I beams and leaf springs.  FWIW, I'm going to be sending my manifold, spindle and manifold housing back to Bruce soon.  There is an air flow imbalance that causes the spindle to push in one direction as I increase pressure. It was pushing out. I flipped the manifold and sure enough it started pushing in as I increased pressure.  I contacted Bruce and he told me to send it in for balancing.  I'm not sure I've seen anyone else mention this issue, so just wanted to put it out there. 

I’m going to be sending my manifold, spindle and manifold housing back to Bruce soon. There is an air flow imbalance that causes the spindle to push in one direction as I increase pressure. It was pushing out. I flipped the manifold and sure enough it started pushing in as I increased pressure.

Mike.
This is interesting.
My understanding is that the stock 2.0 smaller lighter spindle needs about 3 psi to levitate. The larger heavier lower resonance stock 2.5 spindle, designed for MC carts, needs in the neighborhood of 5-6 psi to do the same thing. This is for Bruce’ stock builds. Then we get into the custom builds that Bruce has done for clients, like myself. He set my 2.5 up for 19 PSI. In discussions with him at the time it was my understanding that this is the PSI limit for the design.

So based on the above, why are you choosing to increase the PSI ? and does the spindle stays balanced, when it is run at the PSI that Bruce set the manifold up for at his shop ?

Just thinking out loud over coffee this morning.

If I were located far from Bruce in Florida, and the (spindle, manifold) were going to be sent to him for maintenance anyway; I would first be tempted to try rebalancing the manifold on my own. As you are using direct shot wiring set it up without the wiring and just the spindle on (Look Mom, no wires ! - hah hah )

So with just the spindle on, turn on the air at the factory set PSI. Do observations. Now bump up the pressure and observe again. Slide out the manifold itself, and adjust the screws on the one side a bit, on the side it it pushes towards. Open them up a bit equally. What happens ? If it gets worse turn them in again and go to the other side and repeat. Again, just something to try, before it goes back to Bruce.

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lots of turntable tweaks in your Audiogon page.
I really like the way you have set up the thread/floss on your turntable. Interested in the differences you heard compared to the belt setup.

Hi Chris.  I too have a custom 2.5 manifold, set for 12 PSI. I'm sure the fix is to adjust the screws on the manifold to adjust airflow, but there are two issues.  First, I'm not sure exactly which screws should be adjusted, and second, for the most part, I can't get an allen wrench into most of the screws.  The female allen ends are not uniform, they've been buffed down in several places and an allen wrench just can't get purchase.  I've had the manifold out and was only able to turn one screw.  I should have taken a picture. Right now, with a dead level table and 12 PSI, the arm has a very pronounced bias inward (was outward until I flipped it).  I'm dealing with it in the short term by finding a setting that does work, about 5 PSI right now.


  We're getting 6 inches of snow in Greensboro right now, so this is prime listening time, so it will be a while before I send the parts in to Bruce, and there's no way I'm going to try to get it right myself.  That being said, I ain't hating what I'm hearing right now. I know it could be better and not just because of the pressure imbalance. I recently purchased a Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC and was using that for the last 10 days or so. It has a master tape quality, no doubt. Resolution, when setup is dead on, is jaw dropping, but in spite of that, I've gone back to my old reliable Delos for now.  On my rig, the Delos is not quite as resolving, but is noticeably warmer. Add to the mix that two weeks ago I took delivery on a prototype pair of Vaughn Plasma Signature speakers and I'm still familiarizing myself with them. The Delos is sounding pretty sweet through them, even though the speakers are currently being driven by a Marantz SMS-11 power amp. Not ideal, as the speakers are 96db efficient and were designed for low power SET/ Class A  amps. At RMAF they were paired with the top of the line Wavelength amps, and it was something to behold.  Sold me :)  Jim Jordan of Vaughn has shipped me an Almarro A318b tube integrated amp, and when it comes in next week I'll put the Zephyr back in and see if I can get both resolution and warmth with that combination. Someone said an audio system is like baking a cake.  Well I've switched up a lot of ingredients, but I hope I'm homing in on a blue ribbon recipe.

Prior speakers were Audio Artistry Vivaldis FWIW.  They got along famously with the Marantz amp, but in that case there is a very sophisticated  passive crossover between the amp and the drivers. The designer, Sigfried Linkwitz, is on record as saying his speakers are not overly amplifier sensitive. 

While I'm here, a couple more things.  First off, we all know Bruce is great to deal with.  I'd like to add to that list Keith Herron of Herron audio and Jim Jordan of Vaughn speakers. They're both in the same class.  On last thing.  I do a radio show that you can get off the 'net.  It's the World Peace Party on WQFS Guilford College radio, 2-4 PM EST every Monday.  Mostly indie rock and singer-songwriter, and all through 2017 I've featured a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the year 1967 around the 3:00 mark. Hendrix, Love, Moby Grape, The Byrds, 13th Floor Elevators, Cream....  If you're interested, do a search for WQFS and the tunein link should pop up. Content is MP3's and WAV files, mostly played through a laptop with  Dragonfly Red DAC, so it's not exactly audiophile material.