Why is the price of new tonearms so high

Dear T_bone, the use of the term "occam's razor" seems to be en vogue among US-audiophiles right now........
As I am quite sceptical about the biblical Kain and Abel-picture as a whole, I would rather favour the equal well known picture of the old, lazy and used to enjoy wide homage because of his presence lion all a sudden facing a new competitor showing up in "his" territory.
Even if we were living next door, I doubt that we would see a "keeping up with the Johnsons" situation.
In fact, I am sure that our concepts in the way we want to hear reproduced music are very dissimilar. As are our backgrounds and taste.
I am certainly no philantrophist and I make no secret about this.
Questioning things again and again till you get to the core and being critical about what people really have to show behind their mere words is a lesson I have learned from history - not only of my home country and not only from days past.

But to get to the core and to give your post the answer it deserves.
You are right that the exchange of personal posts between Raul and me does indeed do no good to this thread (although I know that the "oldskool tonearm"-thread - which was MUCH more informative than this one here - was eliminated because of the direct insults exchanged between Bob and Raul).
I do a favour to you, the other Audiogoners, Raul and last but not least me: - I will ignore all posts by Raul from now on.
Will continue to post, but will do so as if he doesn't post at all.
Cheers,
D.

Dear T bone: The best we can do in a forum like the Agon one is try to learn ( while are there. Over the time, if no one " use/post " on it, the threads disappear/delete in automatic. ) and make a personal archive of what is interesting for each one of us and in the mid-time try to have fun as you can get.

The opinion differences are what make a forum comes " alive " and learning one. In the analog audio world that is full of imperfections/errors/mistakes there is no absolute rules as there is no absolute opinions only relative/flavored ones due to those audio imperfections and different each one experiences: there is no " Bible " .

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Off the original topic, but hopefully answering a question posted here:
A straight tonearm or a tonearm that is s-shaped(but is in perfect lateral balance) that relies on the counterweight to be moved for setting VTF will NOT cause a VTF change when moved up or down because of differing record thickness, as long as a line connecting the center of gravity of the arm's mass behind the vertical pivot(endstub, counterweight...) and the center of gravity of the arm's mass in front of the vertical pivot(armwand, headshell cartridge...) goes right through the vertical pivot.
But, one can't overcome inertia, so on the up a warp, VTF increases, on the way down VTF will be below its nominal value, then, finally increase above it(think ski jumper when landing) before returning to the nominal value.

If the arm has a total COG below the pivot(due to a low slung counterweight on a unipivot arm or one used on, say, a Rega arm just because it is supposedly adding "stability"(which is what lots of aftermarket counterweight ads claim), the VTF changes are more pronounced due to the resulting restoring force(think pendulum).

A so-called "dynamically balanced" tonearm will not(!), contrary to what I've read here and elsewhere, maintain the same tracking force when used with records of different thickness. It makes no differences whether a coil or a flat spring is used, VTF must increase when the arm's front is raised(spring tension is altered). This is true irrespective of the mass distribution(see above).

The advantage of using a spring is that, while the VTF will increase more strongly on the way up the warp, it will not fall (much)below its nominal value when the arm is on the way down. Mistracking as a result of too low a VTF is less likely to occur.
This was mostly an issue with very high compliance carts(70s and early 80s). Other theoretical advantages are the reduced inertia on arms with reversed tension springs(Rega: zero = - VTF), constant VTF despite a non-level tt platform(not really an argument as any turntable should be perfectly level(but Dual loved to display their cardanically suspended decks with dynamically balanced ULM arms back then...) and the more reliable VTF setting on (European)broadcast turntables(no tools, scales or gauges required for exchanging the cartridge).

Lastly, a dynamically balanced arm with an undamped spring is something I'd stay away from....

Have fun,

Frank

Aahh, sorry, please ignore my last post as its core content can be found in some of the earlier posts. I replied, not realizing that there were two more columns of posts to read.
Guess I should hit the sack...

Good night,

Frank

Frank (Berlinta),
Thanks for your detailed/clear explanation. Despite similar things being said earlier, it was quite clearly stated. Your comment about spring tension being altered based on record thickness is true for most short springs, but there is no reason why one could not make a longer spring. Also, if the spring mount was tied to the VTA-adjustment base, when you adjust for VTA it would keep spring tension constant across record thickness.

Separately, I'd be interested to hear what people thought about spring dampening materials.