Why the sudden popularity of 12 inch arms

There's a pretty lengthy discussion of this topic in the new issue of Hi-Fi plus. Much of it kind of blew past me, but I remembered that the 12 in arm compared to the shorter arm makes 25% less tracking errors.

Yea that is what prompted me to ask the question as RG has reviewed a half a dozen 12 inch arms in the last few months.

He says they blow their 9 inch equivalents out of the water for playing music.

Because we already have 9" arms and as there are a limited number of audiophiles who listen to vinyl and a business needs to keep doing business we need to learn that all of our current equipment is no longer any good and that we need to replace it with the newest and bestest. I love my Nottingham but I can't believe a 12" Ace space is as nice as a 9" Phantom or triplanar.

Shane, the major differences I find between 12" and it's 9" counterpart is the way the music is presented. The shorter arm would have better detail, speed, transparency and more of the hi-fi thing (if that's what you're looking for) while the longer arm presents music in a more effortles, relaxed way with less highlighting.

They are just different and hard to compare...just like apples and oranges.