Makes sense from a business perspective as there's (likely considerably) more margin in complete turntables than selling standalone arms.
Back when SME started manufacturing arms in 1959, many of the "higher-end" turntable decks, e.g. Garrard, ELAC, and Thorens, etc. were sold w/o tonearms. Today, the vast majority of turntables are sold with tonearms, so it's likely been a declining market for SME for some time now.
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