Linear tracking turntables, whatever happened?

@uberwaltz my sense is several things happening near simultaneously decline of LP in 80’s so investment in mass market even high end table refinement declined
some like B&O required unique cartridges, which were not great...
the relatively simple but consumer rugged servo drives / sensors hunted a lot and did not sell well.....
disclaimer - I managed a sizable dealerships at that time, our only Linear was the Souther, we had Denon, SOTA, thorens, etc

But.... after painful setup.... with a Dynavector Ruby the Souther on a SOTA Sapphire could be made to sing !!!!!!

^- :_)
It never fails to amaze me when people post comments on Hi-Fi gadgets they have never seen live in action not to mention heard.
FYI the best air bearing TAs do not need fancy devices such as servos to show the way, the groove takes over. So any force or resistance is futile. As seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6nMtn8oEJg

Audio and picture may not be the highest quality but hope you like the music as well : )

Good night

testpilot, Thanks for supplying the name of that company, Bergmann.  If you re-read my post, you will see that I mentioned first that there was one German company I could not name, and second that I thought Brinkmann might also make an all-in-one SL turntable.  On that score, I may be right or wrong.

Ct and Harold, NO, as I mentioned, I have never owned an SL tonearm.  And NO, I don't categorically dislike the idea.  I have had a long-standing interest in the Trans-fi Terminator, which you can probably verify by doing a search here.  I have heard it and other air-bearing tonearms many times, and I agree they have a lot to offer. Up to now, if I were to want to experiment with an SL tonearm, the Trans-fi would still be my choice.  I do have an opinion that the Rabco SL8, which I have heard many many times, and the Souther are not the way I would go.  These are my opinions.  So sue me.

And Harold, Whether you like it or not, there is no such thing as "friction-less" in the real world.  Ergo, if the groove is guiding the stylus tip, there is a side force generated at the stylus due to friction at the junction (and the mass) between the arm wand and the tube upon which it rides. Albeit the best air bearing tonearms are pretty successful in minimizing this problem.  Why is it so upsetting to mention that?