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What happened to Linear Tracking Turntables

After a lengthy discussion with a fellow audiophile who owns a B&O 4004 linear tracking turntable, he wondered what ever happened to the genre. According to him, they do less harm to the groove walls than do current arm geometries. He claims that records he has played hundreds of times sound basically the same as new with minimal wear. My response was--if they were so good, why do so few companies offer them? I'm sure there is a valid reason, but neither one of us is knowledgeable enough in the area to argue the point. Any analog gurus out there who could clarify the reason they fell out of favor.
jig
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albertporter
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My response was--if they were so good, why do so few companies offer them?

Still very much around, but primarily in the high end model turntables. Good examples include Walker, Kuzma Airline, Rockport, Air Tangent, Clear Audio, and Eminent Technology.

Any analog gurus out there who could clarify the reason they fell out of favor.

They didn't fall out of favor, just a lot more expensive to build, and there are many traditional tonearms manufactured today that far exceed your friends B&O.
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outlier
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Just to mention one relatively inexpensive one that I found is the MG-1 by Airtech:

http://airtech.atspace.com/mg1.htm

I actually bought it and it replaced my previous Origin Live Silver. The arm is a pretty simple design modelled after the Air Tangent. I'm sure it's not nearly as good as the Air Tangent, but at about 600 including the air pump (I think the pricing is a little more now) the performance was better (to my ear) than the OL-Silver, which I promptly sold. I've no other personal experience with other arms in my system though, so I'm not able to offer any comparison to other arms, alas.
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albertporter
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GREAT link Outlier! Thanks for adding that, I did not know about that arm, it looks excellent.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
A decent linear tracking arm is much more expensive to manufacture than a pivoting arm. That's why they disappeared from low cost record players. Linear tracking arms are still around in the high cost category. Another factor is that a well designed linear tracking arm does not require the many delicate adjustments, and periodic readjustments, which audiophiles seem to enjoy doing, so many of them steer clear of linear trackers. No fun!

Some linear tracking arms, using air bearings for example, are overly complex, and have their own share of problems.
gregcon57
10 posts
 
My Revox 795 linear just keeps on trackin'

gregc
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