Why are modern arms so ugly?

Halcro, the Ikeda Sound Labs IT-407CR1 Long Tonearm.

Tbg........the Ikeda IT-407CR1.
Are you saying this is a 'beautiful' modern arm or are you using it as an example of my Thread?
It's not the ugliest arm IMO that's for sure......but compared to the original FR-66s by the same designer over 30 years ago......I know which one I prefer visually :-)

I had a FR-66 and thought it was okay. I guess I'm just taken by the close tolerance machining of the Ikeda and, of course, the sound.

10.5 is a future classic. Gorgeous in person. It has a very precise look and feel to it.

And then there's the Triplanar.......something the Soviets would launch against some Balkan uprising.
And this fashionable separation of VTA tower and arm is responsible for a whole brood of monsters.

Hahaha :)

Remember........classics are always beautiful.

True. 

But most of the modern turntables aesthetically are perfect match for those ugly modern tonearms, maybe this is the reason why tonearms are so ugly ?  

the arm on the new technics 1200G looks very much vintage and its a fantastic arm.

I disagree with chackster about the tri-planar arm, I think that they are beautifully designed arms that deliver world-class sound.  but that is my opinion. They are designed and built with a watchmaker's precision. Each piece of each arm is made by hand by Tri Mai who is a meticulous craftsman.

Kuzma 4P looks Dart Vaderish - I kinda like the way it looks.  

*Darth

I disagree with chakster about the tri-planar arm, I think that they are beautifully designed arms that deliver world-class sound.

@theo1124 

It was a quote from the OP's first post, not my own opinion about Tri-Planar.  

Tri-Planar is definitely not the ugliest arm in my opinion and actually it's not a modern arm, it's a vintage tonearm with some improvements. 

   

I have been following this forum for a long time, although I have only just signed up. I don’t intend to post a lot here, but I can’t help mentioning the Glanz tonearm as an example of a design that combines excepcional beauty and high performance.

http://www.glanztonearms.co.uk/

Beauty is function!

Because the modern world is .

LOL good one Schubert.  
My vector 4 is like art. 

theo, It interested me that you think the Triplanar is designed and built with a "watchmaker's" precision, because Herb Papier, the designer and for a few decades the builder of the Triplanar was in real life, a watchmaker and watch repairer.  Perhaps you knew that, and it stimulated your metaphor.  I had the pleasure of knowing Herb during his later life, and by chance I was at Herb's house one day during the time when Tri was visiting Herb in order to learn how to build the tonearm.  Herb did it all in his basement back then, with precision machinery of course.  Some small parts were evidently farmed out toward the end or production.

And I agree with Chakster, the Triplanar is now an almost vintage design in terms of years since its introduction.  What makes us think of it as "modern" is the fact that Herb incorporated many new ideas that have become standard fare for modern tonearms and differentiate "vintage" designs from modern ones.  The side mounted tower for VTA adjustment is one.  The placement of the counter-weight in the plane of the LP, so that warps have less effect on VTF is another.  The decoupling of the counter-weight is yet another, although some of the Japanese arms had already done that. And there is the damping trough and the capacity to adjust azimuth.

@halcro 

which arms are ugly???