Are linear tracking arms better than pivoted arms?

Fred is one of the most reliable and sensible sources I can think of. I've known him for more than 20 years, probably closer to 30 years.

Fred and I have spent many evenings listening together any many more on the phone discussing preferences.

His position at Dagogo. is new compared to our friendship, I assure you his report is genuine if he put it in this forum.

His experience is one I can believe in, no axe to grind and zero ego, not to mention he has no horse in this race.

Mikelavigne, science can long explain why bumble bees fly .....

You are referring to days long gone by while using a phrase abused today. However - long term subjective observations are always subjective.
Logic - isn't it ?
The fact - which I do not deny - that in certain individual linear set-ups the owners did not observe any damage or problems doesn't prove anything, but that the respective owners did not observe any problems........
I neither imply that any of the respective users did not observe correctly or that his impressions were wrong.
What I still say, is that mechanical laws are set aside with little to no second thought if they do not fit audiophile preferences or impressions or ownership.
I had the Air Tangent, ET2, ET 2.5, T3F, Forsell and Versa Dynamics (the last one for only a short period however).
I know my impressions and even if each of these linear trackers was tempting and promising in several ways, me owning them didn't wipe out the clear mechanical dilemma which most (NOT all - the Versa Dynamics had other problems) of them did face by design.

Well said, Dertonarm. Well said.

A tonearm is a mechanical device, let's stick to talking about its mechanical operation and design issues, regardless of one's sonic impression either pro or con. Unless someone can articulate well enough to relate the sound to the tonearm's physical attribute, it's still mostly a bunch of impressionistic ramblings. I am sure many people just can't wait to jump on talking about how wide the "soundstage" or "PRaT" or other pornographic details. Spare me.

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Have we then decided that the charge against liner arms ".......(they) put excessive side force on the stylus, in a way that would lead to poor performance and quicker wear of the cartridge" is unsupported, and are now simply discussing the theory of the best tonearm design?

Samujohn, in a word, no. Fred's point about using vacuum is well-taken; record warp will contribute to the issues of air-bearing linear trackers. This quote

The problem is that most tangential arms have historically not been well designed or executed.

is the most telling.

Mikelavigne, about 20-25 years ago someone figured out that the Reynolds number for a bumble bee's wing was not being calculated correctly. Once the right Reynold's number got into the math, it turned out that bumble bees fly just fine. That example does persist though, just like most people still think that Marconi was the inventor of the radio.