Gary, I find the decoupled counterweight interesting. Seems to be a very clever design. I have not seen this before except on your Artemiz arm which the counterweight sits on a unipivot. Touraj must have found it more beneficial to limit its movement to just forward backward motion on the Vertere. My only concern is if the weight gets enough momentum it may end up swinging in the wrong direction at the wrong time. If that did occur it would probably cause tracking issues. Considering you have owned the Artemiz for many years I assume you have not found this to be an issue.
Seems that the counterweight and where it is was carefully calculated. Touraj mentioned that only for very high compliance cartridges will it be necessary to damp the movement of the counterweight.
The counterweight on the Artemiz was on a unipivot as the Artemiz has a pyramidal bearing - acting almost like a unipivot. Hence, it required a counterweight that is on a unipivot as well. The problem with the Artemiz was that you needed to adjust the counterweight depending on the compliance of the cartridge, but there was no "correct" setting. With the new tonearm, it was very much easier to have a definitive adjustment and there would be directions for the adjustment.
Seems that the counterweight and where it is was carefully calculated. Touraj mentioned that only for very high compliance cartridges will it be necessary to damp the movement of the counterweight.
The counterweight on the Artemiz was on a unipivot as the Artemiz has a pyramidal bearing - acting almost like a unipivot. Hence, it required a counterweight that is on a unipivot as well. The problem with the Artemiz was that you needed to adjust the counterweight depending on the compliance of the cartridge, but there was no "correct" setting. With the new tonearm, it was very much easier to have a definitive adjustment and there would be directions for the adjustment.
The ET2 is an really intriguing design, and you must understand its geometry to set and operate it properly. But once working properly it represents excellent value for money. It sounded great mounted on the old Xerxes turntable, although it looked strange, as it must be placed in a diagonal position. But we can always say that such system has the Vertere DNA.
Doesn't look like the same sort of decoupling as the Artemiz/Vertere to me. On Touraj's arms the counterweight swings independent of the arms bearings. The counterweight has its own bearings.
The elephant in the room for airbearing arms is their high horizontal mass. The few I have heard had soft sounding bass. From what I have read no one has solved this problem on an airbearing arm yet.
I remember Soundsmith mentioning that he has created a version of his new Hyperion cartridge that is designed for airbearing arms. Its horizontal compliance is lower than its vertical compliance. This makes perfect sense. I wonder if anyone has tried one yet? It would be nice if SS would make this available in one of his cheaper cartridges so more people could try it out.
Doesn't look like the same sort of decoupling as the Artemiz/Vertere to me. On Touraj's arms the counterweight swings independent of the arms bearings. The counterweight has its own bearings.
the solve inherent in the application...would be the counterweight moving freely in multiple axis all while maintaining it's 'mass relational effect', which is exactly what you want the stylus/cantilever/motor to be doing, with respect to the groove in question.
The secondary, or following issue....becomes one of control of the multi-axis motion ----after the fact.
The elephant in the room for airbearing arms is their high horizontal mass. The few I have heard had soft sounding bass. From what I have read no one has solved this problem on an airbearing arm yet.
I remember Soundsmith mentioning that he has created a version of his new Hyperion cartridge that is designed for airbearing arms. Its horizontal compliance is lower than its vertical compliance. This makes perfect sense. I wonder if anyone has tried one yet? It would be nice if SS would make this available in one of his cheaper cartridges so more people could try it out.
Could be. The air does act like a spring. I have not heard the Souther arm before or the Clearaudio copies of them. How does the bass sound on those? Is the horizontal mass the same between the two designs?
Could be. The air does act like a spring. I have not heard the Souther arm before or the Clearaudio copies of them. How does the bass sound on those? Is the horizontal mass the same between the two designs?
The elephant in the room for airbearing arms is their high horizontal mass. The few I have heard had soft sounding bass. From what I have read no one has solved this problem on an airbearing arm yet.
No soft sounding bass with my prior ET-2 setup. If you use a surge tank and have it setup correctly, it will punch a hole through you if the rest of your system is up to it. Frankie Goes to Hollywood "Relax" on the 45 RPM version-if that LP doesn't punch right through your bones, you do have a wimpy system with soft sounding bass. This bass hits like a sledgehammer with the ET-2.
No soft sounding bass with my prior ET-2 setup. If you use a surge tank and have it setup correctly, it will punch a hole through you if the rest of your system is up to it. Frankie Goes to Hollywood "Relax" on the 45 RPM version-if that LP doesn't punch right through your bones, you do have a wimpy system with soft sounding bass. This bass hits like a sledgehammer with the ET-2.
First of all, I still have my ET-2, two pumps, and the surge tank. The tradeoffs prior to my purchase of the SME 312s with other pivoted arms was mainly a lack of purity across the entire record surface and the air that the ET-2 decodes from the recording venue (either contrived or live) that seems to elude lots of pivoted arms. Don't let anyone ever kid you, the ET-2 is one very special arm and it still kicks ass. The amount of adjustment capability built into the ET-2 would cause an OCD tweaker with erectile dysfunction to throw away his Viagra medication.
First of all, I still have my ET-2, two pumps, and the surge tank. The tradeoffs prior to my purchase of the SME 312s with other pivoted arms was mainly a lack of purity across the entire record surface and the air that the ET-2 decodes from the recording venue (either contrived or live) that seems to elude lots of pivoted arms. Don't let anyone ever kid you, the ET-2 is one very special arm and it still kicks ass. The amount of adjustment capability built into the ET-2 would cause an OCD tweaker with erectile dysfunction to throw away his Viagra medication.
First of all, I still have my ET-2, two pumps, and the surge tank. The tradeoffs prior to my purchase of the SME 312s with other pivoted arms was mainly a lack of purity across the entire record surface and the air that the ET-2 decodes from the recording venue (either contrived or live) that seems to elude lots of pivoted arms. Don't let anyone ever kid you, the ET-2 is one very special arm and it still kicks ass. The amount of adjustment capability built into the ET-2 would cause an OCD tweaker with erectile dysfunction to throw away his Viagra medication.
Don't let anyone ever kid you, the ET-2 is one very special arm and it still kicks ass. The amount of adjustment capability built into the ET-2 would cause an OCD tweaker with erectile dysfunction to throw away his Viagra medication.
I have been using the ET2 for 25 years running and I would attest the veracity of the first statement, but I have no experience with the latter, thankfully and knock on wood.
