Why are modern arms so ugly?

Peter,

Sorry for spouting theory and forgetting a few straightforward examples.

First I never use a magnifier or loupe for VTA/SRA, at least not any more.

For a ZYX I just make the ridge near the bottom of the cartridge body level. I know from experience that this will get me very close - on any tonearm.

For a Shelter I just make the cartridge body slightly tail down. I know from (less) experience that this will get me close - on any tonearm.

If I'm setting up an Ortofon A90 with Dan and you at Chris's house I waste 45mins trying without success to decipher and follow the instructions about adjusting SRA under magnification. ;) Then I come to my senses, level the cartridge frame by eye (30 seconds) and find that we're so close I can nail the sweet spot by ear on any LP in another 30 seconds. This worked on both the Durand Talea and the Kuzma Airline, easy as pie on both arms.

That last example is how I (should) begin with any unfamiliar cartridge. Fussing with magnifiers to nail SRA certainly works and is technically the most accurate way to start, but since one must fine tune by ear anyway it just isn't worth the time and expense, IME.

It's not that levelling the armtube is bad. It should get you *nearly* as close as levelling the cartridge body. It's just that people with less knowledge and experience than you read these threads and may get the wrong idea about what they're trying to adjust. Whether one's eyes are good enough to see the (obviously smaller) cartridge body vs. the armtube is of course an individual matter.

I think the latest arms look great, do you miss those "S" arms of the past? I had a Grado Reference arm, that was vintage and, that was ugly!

Hi Hifihvn, Yes you are right Schwazenegger is a typical
Slavic name. But regarding the accent you are wrong. All my relatives speak English with the BBC accent, not German accent. And those in Austria and Germany speak hochdeutsch.

Regards,

The 'S' shaped arms are not a necessary factor for beautiful design.
Look at the DaVinci 12" Ref Grandezza and the Shroeder arms?
I think Dover nailed it with the current fad for 'complexity'.....the perceived 'need' to alter parameters 'on-the-fly'.
The Triplanar and then the VPI JMW Memorial arms initiated the principle of the separate support tower off which the actual bearing and arm could be attached. This principle has largely been adopted by the Reed and Talea and even the Cobra (although strangely enough.....not the Copperhead?)
As Dover questioned.......do these 'user-friendly' functions actually improve the sonic performance of the arms?

There's little question that such user-friendly functions can improve the sonic performance of an arm in the areas they're designed to address. For example, VTA/SRA on-the-fly makes it possible to optimize those parameters very quickly and the results are clearly audible (at least to me).

Notwithstanding that, there is probably also a sonic penalty from hanging additional bits off the arm. Every piece of material is a potential resonance trap that may color the arm and/or raise its sound floor.

It's a two-edged sword, no simple answers.