Why hasnt a turntable manufacturer produced a table with automatic tonearm return/shutoff?


I'm listening to my old Technics 1700 turntable, which has the tonearm return/ shutoff mechanism. It's one of the reasons I don't upgrade. The idea that you have to get up to retrieve the cartridge and turn off the machine makes little sense when the technology has been there for years. I know the issue of the mechanism introducing sound into the table, but it seems to me that the mechanism can be isolated and kept off until the record ends. What gives?

kavakat1

I was going to suggest the ability to stack multiple LPs on top of each other and have them drop when the prior one has finished.

But I won't, because then it would have to adjust the VTA.  I am, of course, joking, because the record clamp issues would be tough to solve. No I am not serious.

It pisses me off that pressings from the 60's and 70's often have sides 1&4 on one disk and 2&3 on the other - or even worse 1&3 and 2&4. And it gets really crazy with multi disk opera LP sets.

 

Re tone controls: many DACs have multiple filters and choices of sample rate conversion or DSD conversion.  And we do choose our interconnects and roll tubes to get the sound we want.

I remember my British Quad 33 preamp from the early 70's had bass, treble and slope controls and I think the current ones do also.

Currently in production are fully automatic turntables from Projct, Dual and Thorens. There are semiautomatic or to lift/shut by Music Hall, Teac and Technics.

 I am an infrequent vinyl listener so I stick to vintage auto-return tablets that don’t require significant repairs beyond DIY. I am using a restomod Philips AF877 with some upgrades. Love the auto-return.

"Seems to me the mere existence of the Little Fwend and vs other tonearm lifters reflects a problem that needs solving. I’m just saying I’m surprised such mechanisms are not incorporated into the initial design of high end turntables along with auto return and shut off."

"I think Ferrari should install roof boxes on all their cars. It seems like the mere existence of third-party roof boxes reflects a problem that needs solving. I'm surprised that roof boxes are not incorporated on all Ferraris. Not least because I want one."

Nothing gets the heart rate up like hearing the same record play when you have stacked records on top.  That means a new record did not drop and is probably barely hanging on waiting to sandwich the cartridge between the two records.  When a record does drop properly there is no scratching or rubbing between the grooved part of the record because they don’t touch; there is a raised bead on the edge of the record and the center of the record is thicker than the playing surface.  However, the spindle hole does become larger over time because the record spins while the spindle is fixed so the rubbing slowly reams out the hole.