The genesis of "S", and for that matter "J", shaped arms is probably buried in the mists of time, though I think that Larryi has a pretty plausable explanation. The only reason that I can see to currently design one of these arms is that it becomes compatible with universal headshells, which are absolutely necessary in the DJ world and pretty convenient in the audiophile world, though as Bill stated, there will be a high sonic price to pay for such convenience. As always, sigh!
"S" shaped tonearm ?
what is the reason a company ,such as denon for instance to put an "S" shaped tonearm on there table. ive had both straight and S . and while not high end , i currently have the denon dp500m table . ive heard nor seen an advantage to either, though my experience is very much amature audiophile.