Why is the price of new tonearms so high

D,
For those of us who WERE pained, I thought that was a Roman (can't remember who offhand, but my 3rd-year Latin teacher was always good for a pithy quote)
But yes, it is a handy quote.

FWIW, I have seen several people mention wrapping a tonearm tube with something in order to dampen vibration. I am wondering where that vibration goes... It is not sinked into something else, so perhaps it just disappears into the air, whereas if the tonearm tube was not wrapped in whatever, it would not dissipate into the air... Someone care to enlighten me how that works?

Hi D.
"The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived."

... modern day marketing (which incidently is my profession....

So is that by any chance some kind of confession about your 'profession', and what you therefore keep telling us?

Dear Axel, ....rather the implication, that I very well realize the mechanisms of the game....

Dear T_bone, glad to see you back. Its not roman origin this time (but I admit - it would fit...), but swiss/german 15th century renaissance satirc essay in latin (not uncommon back then).
The damping is the more effective the softer the material in conjunction with surface area covered and how "sticky" the damping really is (blue-tech et al....).The usual chewing gum-like material does "eat" up some of the vibration by transfer in heat (no joke! - same method as Sorbothane - vibration (=energy) transfered into heat (=energy).
This is of course hardly measureable, but its the way it works.
Other way of damping a tonearm is heat skrink pipe - large area and good damping. This is an old trick on the SME V (Axel !!) to eliminate its vibration peak towards the bearing (blue-tech works fine too).
Often far more effective than any damping by oil-filled through.
Cheers,
D.

Dampening material coverts the mechanical vibrations into heat. Very effective on just about everything. You wouldn't be able to stand riding in your car without it.
But don't expect to improve your system by putting dampening material everywhere. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Just like too much dampening of your listening room can make your stereo sound lifeless and dull.