Spindle-To-Pivot Distance

Lewm  the arms are my own.  The ones with the zero offset  are Brazillian  rosewood with a straight  aluminum headshell.  I use a spacer block of aluminum  or wood for now, between the cartridge  and headshell,  so any angle is available including  zero.   Better check the blood pressure  at the rigid camp.  In fact if you showed them your  RS tone arm you would have to take them to the emergency  room after they see the headshell can move.  Need we forget it wobbles  with no silicone  and  the  pivot is  no where near where it should be.   

The 2 arms are  the same table.  One is rigid on plinth  the other on a massive pod.  Oh dear  the rigid camp is going to lose it.  Now  something that make a real sonic difference  is I can run my tables  either  belt/tape or  idler.  Can change back on forth  around 5 minutes.   Even the  density  and thickness  of the o'rings can change the sound.  Go Figure!!!

Well I went a little  off topic but I hope  the OP gets  what you brought up  about  Did the so called Masters of the old days, using mono,  know  what sounds the best or just like whatever the machine told them.

Enjoy the ride
Tom

The thing is that an under hung tonearm will yield massive amounts of tracking angle error when the stylus is not located at its single null point on the surface of the LP. Way more tracking angle error than is developed in a properly aligned overhung tonearm with a correct headshell offset angle. And yet I hear absolutely no problem. With your 14 inch tonearms, of course you have dramatically reduced the tracking angle error at any position on the LP, compared to that of the RS Lab, but I would wager the actual error is still higher or not much better than one gets with a 9 inch overhung tonearm. I bet the soundQuality is excellent.

...mind the 'jerry rigged' comments, puleze....I've been spending a lot of time giving that a positive spin in my own meandering fashion.... ;)

" Why would moving the cartridge forward in a headshell with elongated slots “look ugly”, and who cares?"

Indeed.  That is where my Hana rides on my VPI . . . . . . 

What tonearm and what turntable?