Why Linear Tracking never took off?

Sean,

Being a Sota owner, how does it stack up to the others? Which arm and cart?

Oh yes. Linear tracking. Every vinyl audiophile's dream. The
idea is right, but most executions of the idea had flaws. For
example, the "buzz-buzz-buzz" of the Rabco as it tried to
maintain tangency with its servos. The nightmare of setups,
the big pops and poor cueing that sometimes flipped the
cartridge in strange ways, and on and on, not to mention
hum. All of these problems are solvable, but not with the
pocketbook of the average audiophile in mind. I would like
to try the new "megabuck" linear arms when my rich uncle
leaves me enough greenbacks. C. Miller, Columbus, OH

I gave up on my Sony psx 800 some time ago. When you push the start button instead of going to the edge of the record and setting the arm down it just keeps on moving the arm til it's all the way across the record. You can get it to play by hitting the on button and then immediately hitting the stop and then manually cueing it to the record. The light that shines up through the slots in the table to sense record size failed as well and I thought the bulb must have burned out. Replaced the bulb and it still didn't light. The whole thing made me suspicious enough about the table that I stopped using it. I'm a bit surprised by all the buzz here regarding this table. I found it's sound disappointing by comparison to the Rabco I had owned previously.

Now I have a Goldmund Studio with the T3 arm.

By the way I think the "correct" term is tangential tracking.

Just as an fyi... The terms "tangential tracking" and "linear tracking" both are acceptable. Of the manufacturers of these arms over the years, B&O, Rabco, Marantz and others used the term "tangential tracking" and Eminent Technology, Air Tangent, Walker Audio, Clearaudio, Kuzma and others used the term "linear tracking." All the rest of us (and most reviewers) just used the terms interchangeably.
.

"Just as an fyi... The terms "tangential tracking" and "linear tracking" both are acceptable. Of the manufacturers of these arms over the years, B&O, Rabco, Marantz and others used the term "tangential tracking" and Eminent Technology, Air Tangent, Walker Audio, Clearaudio, Kuzma and others used the term "linear tracking." All the rest of us (and most reviewers) just used the terms interchangeably."

Be that as it may and regardless of who used what, conceptually these arms are attempting to maintain a proper tangential relationship to the groove all the way across the record rather than at just two points. Michael Fremer mentioned this in one of his recent articles. In his opinion and mine, linear is a misnomer. YMMV