In this corner, weighing in at....


I was wondering if any of you have ever done a "head to head" ( or is it "toe to toe" ??? ) with a Souther and an ET II ? I'd also be curious to hear comments ( any and all, good or bad ) from folks that have used either or both of these arms. Thanks in advance, Sean
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sean
Actually Kelly, i have both the ET II and the TQ-1. The TQ just came in the other day, so i haven't played with it at all. The ET II is mounted on a Sota Star Sapphire (vacuum platter) and both are fed via one larger Wisa pump and a good sized vacuum reservoir. I may have another Sota Sapphire in a few weeks, but it is not a vacuum platter ( hence the lack of the "Star" in the name ). I was wondering what arm would work best on what table ?

Seems to make more sense to me to keep the air powered ET II arm and vacuum platter on one table for convenience, but then again, i think that the TQ-1 with the vacuum platter would be a step up in terms of "total performance". As such, i'm somewhat torn between "total performance" and "common sense / convenience". Maybe i should just have the other table upgraded to a vacuum platter. Then i could have my cake and eat it too : ) Sean
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Sean, you think you'll have money left for a cake after the upgrade ;)
BTW, when I listened to a Master ref. TT/TQ1 (+ rebuilt c/audio Insider) combo recently, the sound created a clear "I am there" feeling. But the TQ1 miss-tracked toward the last third of a record -- admittedly, a very dirty LP. So, this shouldn't be a worry I expect. Enjoy the cake! (you will enjoy the tunes)
Money left over after the upgrade ??? Money ? Who's got money ??? I've been getting all of this stuff based on my "good looks" : )

Actually Greg, i'm one of those people that like to live in the real world ( or at least think that i do ). A product SHOULD be designed to cope with normal, every day situations. While i do have a VPI record cleaner, an arm / cartridge should be able to deal with "dirty" or "used" records to a reasonable extent. If it can't, it is an under-designed piece of junk. This is true regardless of price or brand. As such, i hope that i didn't buy something that falls into that category. Sean
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Sean, do you still think clearaudio/souther TQ-I is overally better than ET-2? I also have an ET-2 on Sapphire & a unmounted TQ-I.