Tonearm recomendations

I am looking for advice on arm length and types of arms. I have been searching but have not found the right articles yet.
Having owned my current table for 17 years, have not had the pleasure of interacting with many different arms to learn about them. If a tonearm is a tonearm... why so many and why the big price spread, what extra do you get for the 1k or 2k arm?

Cheers

You should be able to pick up an OEM Rega RB-250 or RB-300 for under $400. They are very nice simple tonearms and are fun to tweak. You seem to be into the DIY so you could buy a RB-250 and then do a rewire and get an upgraded endstub and counter weight as the urge hits you. There is a very interesting thread that was going around some time ago about the strange tonearm tweak for Rega arms that looked really cool.
An used Audioquest PT-6 or Sumiko should fit your budget too.

Cheers,
Jim

Thanks for recomendations, I will read on and I welcome any other input.

We're not saying a tonearm is a tonearm... just that with your turntable you should be able to mount any arm that you want.

My personal faves are the 12" arms based on the classic designs of the '60s... original Ortofons or SMEs, or more recently Shindo and EMT. You could also try Ikeda if you like a more modern sound.

11-30-07: Patrickamory
...My personal faves are the 12" arms based on the classic designs of the '60s... original Ortofons or SMEs, or more recently Shindo and EMT. You could also try Ikeda if you like a more modern sound.

I think a 12" arm for a Rek-O-Kut has a certain poetic rightness about it.