Tonearms: Ripoff?


If you search for tonearm recommendations you'll find an overwhelming amount of praise for $1k and less products. Audiomods and Jelco are the two most mentioned.

The Audiomods is just some guy making Rega-based tonearms in a workshop. Just some guy is putting out tonearms that compete with tonearms that cost many times the price -- from the likes of SME, Clearaudio, VPI, Graham, etc.

So the question is -- are tonearms just a scam? How is it that everyone loves Audiomods and Jelco to death and never talks about / dismisses high end tonearms? Is it because there's no real difference between one of these low-cost tonearms and the high end ones? Is an Audiomods Series V ** really ** the equivalent of a SME V? Some guy in a workshop equals the famed precision of SME? Is that once you have the math and materials worked out all tonearms are essentially the same? Or is it that most owners of record players online are dumpster-diving for vintage gear and simply can't afford to listen to better?

So, what's going on?
madavid0
This is a troll thread.  If you don't want to spend money on an expensive tonearm, then don't.  Nobody is forcing you to purchase an expensive piece of audio gear.
OK, OK, OK...

All considered I might just be willing to trade my signed/first edition of "The Celestine Prophecy" for a "nice" Triplanar.

DeKay
@rsfphil I rarely ever comment on politics and I apologise to others on this thread. Fox is not in the same league as CNN no matter how often trump says it. Fox is an entertainment channel bankrolled by the alt-right to further a nefarious agenda benefiting dirty fuel profiteers and MIC stakeholders while subverting government of the people by the people. CNN merely spins their reporting to point out that fact.