"The cable will come straight down from the tonearm connection." But where does the cable have to go next? Presumably the TT sits on a shelf, so the cable will have to bend at a 90 degree angle in order not to foul the surface of the shelf on its way to the phono inputs. That is what Maxson is trying to explain, I think. Sometimes a right-angled DIN plug is needed to make that 90 degree turn.