Why the sudden popularity of 12 inch arms

Thomas, Yes I believe it is. You correctly suggest when employing as close to The Scientific Method as possible, one can A-B for oneself. I give credit to the engineers and designers to have done at least some of that for me. Reduced tracking error is a gimme. Materials and measuring tools, costruction techniques and equipment that were not available or affordable just a few moments ago, allow the theory to be realized in the form of product we can employ for more accurate reproduction. Competition for market share helps us pesky end users more able to afford this new advantage. Plus they look killer, remember? Z

Dear Shane: I can't comment ( for sure ) the why's of those reviewers because first than all its music/sound priorities are different for mines or even yours and second because almost all them are commercial biased and they have " to help " to that manufacturers grow-up.

The Ikeda ( crappy like you named. Obviously your know-how about is none. ) ) and Audiocraft are current tonearms. Shane with all respect to the designer I could say that your VPI is a crappy item against any of those tonearms, how can you name those tonearms in that way? do you already tested/try it two or three of them in your today system? how do you know which are its performance level?, IMHO you are talking only because you " want " but not because you are experienced on it or because you have personal facts where you can prove it and this is not only unfair but almost dis-honest.

Shane, you have to read again my post because I'm not against the 12" tonearms I'm only saying that the 12" tonearms are not better ones than the 9-10" only because are longer, that's all.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Automobile "talk" bores me!!..Maybe Tennis talk,or how great the Giants were,beating the invincible Patriots.
The 12 inch subject,though valid,does not "get me going" all that much,mainly because there are some fabulous "shorties" that are absolutely amazing(like my new Phantom).Also,I respect Frank Schroder's opinions here,and he is not wild about the 12 length.
To me,from my own experience,the linear design is "absolutely" superior to any other alternative I've heard,and by a "long shot"!The only problem is the somewhat pain in tush pump/compressor,and periodic maintenance(not really a big deal,if you consider the performance,which is inarguably better,and clearly superior...PERIOD!).
If we want to look at Roy Gregory( a good writer,but has his own set of listening biases,like all of us),the recent interesting report in the last Hi Fi Plus,had a low priced(relatively)linear design "easily" competitive with some BIG TIME pivots.Some really amazing designs,AND the cheapo linear one,seemed to steal the show,from his description!...HMMMM?
Just some thoughts.

Downunder, looks like you question as to why new 12" arms has a few plausible answers.

But it seems like the question of "better" could only be answered by direct comparison between 12 and 9" versions of the same design for (current) VPI, SME, Kuzma, etc. Even then, I'm not convinced you would find an ABSOLUTE answer. After all the selected cartridge matching with arm mass variance would still come into the equation. So I'll suggest there is no overall answer to the second part of your OP, but with a given cartridge one of the new 12" arms could provide the best performance.

Raul

I am only joking with my "crappy" 12 inch arm comments. I was illustrating a point when you said your 12 inch arms offered no performance increase over the 9 inch arms - whereas RG in hifi+ did.

I don't believe I have offered any view of performance whatsoever, except with my comparison to my Naim ARO.

Just interested in the views of other's and anyone that has gone from 9inch to 12 inch.

The fact that we all luv vinyl and continue to buy record's is a joy we all share, no matter how we play em.

Doesn't mean we can't have a debate on any subject thou.

cheers