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Why are modern arms so ugly?

OK.......you're going to say it's subjective and you really looove the look of modern tonearms?
But the great tonearms of the Golden Age are genuinely beautiful in the way that most Ferraris are generally agreed to be beautiful.
Look at the Fidelity Research FR-64s and FR-66s? Look at the SAEC 308 series and the SAEC 407/23? Look at the Micro Seiki MA-505? Even the still audacious Dynavector DV-505/507?
But as an architect who's lifetime has revolved around aesthetics.......I am genuinely offended by the design of most modern arms. And don't give me the old chestnut....'Form follows Function' as a rational for ugliness. These current 'monsters' will never become 'Classics' no matter how many 'rave reviews' they might temporarily assemble.
128x128halcro
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
Even if they were the best sounding tonearms I ever heard they would still rank among the ugliest.

I can separate the visual and audible without any assistance thank you.

For example, I think Barbra Streisand has a great voice.
dertonarm
1,042 posts
 
Dear Halcro, as you know, I am low tempered and a rather remote character .... while I really like the Cobra's VTA-tower in execution and handiness ( I had a good, intense and deep look at it at Thuchan's), I am not really taken by the late 1940s design of the arm wand at all.
It really is not form-follows-function, but rather "look here !!! man, I am REALLY different...".
But it sounds good.
Cheers,
D.
thuchan
1,009 posts
 
God thank you that we have different taste and we get not stoned if we are the ugliest - extreme propositions call for extreme point of views.

and not everyone deserves the best - har har

best @ fun only
rockitman's avatar
rockitman
417 posts
 
09-24-11: Thuchan
Rockitman,
thought so too. when I was looking at the Continuum Cobra usually on images or at fairs I thought it is a funny creature. When you have installed this arm and you look on your turntable this arm has some powerful elegance. It is a design piece!

best & fun only

Sound quality is most important. The Cobra is at the top of class as far as radial arms go in that category. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I did take a look at you system pics. Wow !

PS: A Cobra is welcome in my system anytime !
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Wow....the shock of the new!
In the visual arts, a truly new aesthetic is often initially found to be ugly.
Cezanne, van Gogh and Gauguin brought new aesthetics which in turn lead to Cubism, the Fauves, Der Blau Reiter, Expressionism and Modern Art as we know it today. Van Gogh sold one painting during his lifetime.
Even Impressionism was initially considered ugly and confronting although marking the 'end' of Classical Painting rather than the 'beginning' of Modern Art?
As Director of the Aesthetics Police here......I hereby pronounce the Continuum arms to be 'beautiful' and 'functional' :-)
And Thuchan........if you are prepared to wait 5-10 years.....I predict that your Cobra and Copperhead will reward you on the 'Collectors' market, with prices unimaginable today?
All the while.......producing celestial sounds to soothe the savage beast.
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