Why are modern arms so ugly?

I remember the old Zentih Cobra looked pretty nice. I would never let any of my LPs anywhere near one though. I leave that to an arm that is unperturbed by any track recorded in vinyl.

Perception is a funny thing and it is long proven that there is no accounting for taste. I find the Laverda motorbikes from the 1970s to be quite tasteful in design, despite the fact that they are also appear quite technical (http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/laverda/laverda_750sf2.htm)... It has never struck me that someone would have thought that the Triplanar or Phantom to be ugly! To me they look awesome, totally speaking to the requirements of LP. They say that one has as much fun planning and anticipating a vacation; I suspect that tone arms get some of their appeal simply because they present the possibility of music.

A fundamental issue that occurs with every arm I have seen that gets good marks for appearance the the design of the bearings.

More to the point the bearings are positioned outside of the plane of the LP surface, resulting in variable tracking forces, depending on warp and bass modulation.

If the bearing is is the same plane, the tracking force is constant with the presence of such events. The result is that such an arm will have better bass than an arm that lacks such a design. This is something that as an engineering concept has been known for a very long time. It is why a truck can climb a hill fairly well even though it has rear-wheel drive- when going uphill, there is more weight on the rear axles. Ask any airline pilot about how weight has to be distributed in an aircraft and you will discern the same fact.

So- can this criteria be met while the arm still has an aesthetic appeal?

Dan_ed, thanks. I did not want to say that myself. Halcro and I must have very different taste :)