Hiho, You wrote, "I would love to be proven wrong because I think having separate armpod is quite convenient in adjusting overhang and maneuvering purpose."
But what about when you quite accidentally brush the arm pod and you then need to stop everything whilst you get out the protractor and relive the unpleasant experience of re-aligning the tonearm? And I mean from go, because you may have altered the pivot to spindle distance by a mm, which others tell us can be critical. Pain in the butt. And this is quite apart from any theoretical considerations that favor coupling the tonearm base to the main chassis, if not the bearing per se.
But what about when you quite accidentally brush the arm pod and you then need to stop everything whilst you get out the protractor and relive the unpleasant experience of re-aligning the tonearm? And I mean from go, because you may have altered the pivot to spindle distance by a mm, which others tell us can be critical. Pain in the butt. And this is quite apart from any theoretical considerations that favor coupling the tonearm base to the main chassis, if not the bearing per se.