Why the sudden popularity of 12 inch arms

Raul, whilst we all appreciate the experiences and comparisons that you bring to this forum, I think that Zieman has a point.
Your claim that the old technology of arms is as good as, if not better than the new, is demonstrably false just as your beliefs that the older cartridges (both MM and MC)are legitimately comparable to the newer LOMCs.
In my experience, the greatest advances in analogue playback have occurred in just the last 10 years with arms, cartridges and turntables!
Your most 'modern' turntable appears to be the Acoustic Solid from Germany. I have heard their Mambo and I'm sorry to tell you that this is not comparable to the Raven AC, Continuum Caliburn or Criterion nor the Walker Procsenium or Rockport Sirius.
The arm I have discovered since mounting the Continuum Copperhead, is just as important as the table and the differences can be quite stunning.
Once again all your arms cannot bear comparison to the Copperhead, Cobra, Phantom, Triplanar et al.
For you to claim that you have heard all these tables and arms and believe your tables and arms are just as good, means ALL of us can happily make those SAME claims about all OUR equipment as well.
It doesn't unfortunately, make it so.
To compound the problems I have with you, all your arms appear to have readily interchangeable headshells which presumably have plug-in electrical contacts?
For decades, most reviewers and arm-designers have eschewed removable headshells because of the sonic degradation involved and extra electrical contact points.
The sum total of your 'less than SOTA' turntables with your dubious arms with removeable headshells, seems to me to indicate that the sound you are able to extract from the vinyl is decidedly second rate.
The differences you will still hear between cartridges, but the validity of your opinion is severely compromised by the real lack of nuance and detail that you are missing.
Now it is absolutely fine for you to be happy with your set-up and system.....but when you progress to making absolute decrees on the universal quality of arms and cartridges to readers who have little experience,it can be dangerous and misleading.

Raul,
Thank you for pointing out the derivations of certain pivoted arms.
As there are basically 2 commercially successful methods to achieve the pivoted arm principle (unipivot and double gimbel bearings...the Schroeder double magnet bearing is still essentially a unipivot), and as there are hundreds of different models and/or manufacterers over the last 30 years alone, it seems reasonable that they are all variations on a theme.
It's like saying all turntables are derived from the belt-driven platter, the direct-drive platter or the idler-wheel drive.
In other words...it's not telling us anything!
OK Raul, I have a 30 year old Technics 1200 with Nagaoka MP11 MM cartridge and you would be amazed at how it sounds. It will easily equal the sound of all the new high priced turntables/arms/cartridges available today.
Come to my place and hear....you will be surprised....you can try it?
And please stop using that ' Agoner' quote??......it has no meaning in either English OR Spanish!

Hey guys.....don't underestimate the Rega Planar 3!
It MUST be wall-mounted and the Hadcock GH228 is a far better match than the Rega arms.
I simply don't gel with the sound of suspended decks.......do any of you see a similarity here - Caliburn, Criterion, Walker Proscenium, Rockport Sirius, Raven AC?
Have you heard the VPI HRX?

Raul,
The real high-end of Audio is rarefied indeed.
The vast majority of listeners will never be able to hear the true cutting-edge designs in their own systems, in their own listening environment.
If one were to evaluate advances in audio design by the satisfaction of the general user with his own set-up, then yes......Micro-Seiki and Technics and Pioneer would probably all figure prominently.
At most stages in my 30 year experience with audio, I have been ecstatic with my own system and found it hard to imagine how the sound could improve?........until I inserted something better.
And that something better was inevitably NEWER.
That doesn't of course mean that EVERYTHING newer is better.
I still have the same speakers I started out with 30 years ago simply because I can find nothing that sound remotely better.
I had my Regar Planar 3 turntable for 30 years (despite hearing Linns and Sotas) because nothing new sounded significantly better to me.
Similarly with my valve Kebschull pre-amp and Perraux power amp.
Even after buying the Halcro Pre and Power amps, I could still happily go back to my 30 year old Kebschull and Perraux which together with my speakers would put my system beyond yours in terms of antiquity.
What I could NOT happily go back to (now that I've heard the Raven with Copperhead)......is my Rega Planar 3 with Hadcock arm.
We are not saying that ALL new designs are better in Audio.
We are saying that truly BREAKTHROUGH designs and better DEVELOPED designs will enable a closer approach to the source than we have previously had.
And those who brush this off without the opportunity to hear for themselves, are merely penalising themselves needlessly.