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

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.

@retiredaudioguy 

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.

Do you have an example of that, and why would it even be done that way?

1+4 with 2+3 of course makes sense, or 1+6, 2+5 and 3+4 for a three LP set, or even 1+8, 2+7, 3+6, 4+5. I have enough of the 2-LP & 3-LP sets like that, but in my 50+ years of collection I’ve never see a 2-LP record set with 1&3, 2&4. I don’t get the logic of it.

JVC made a high-end DD table that solved all the issues people worry about regarding SQ and automation - the QL-A7. It was equal to or better than the offerings from Technics and Denon (except it lacked the very cool Denon plinths). JVC designed the table so there was no mechanism to interfere with the tonearm's performance while playing the record, and nothing to service. The JVC tonearms were also longer than most, with lower tracking error to better support cartridges using the then new Shibata stylus shape, required to decode CD-4 Quad recordings, and which was then as now, very sensitive to tracking error. You may want to consider finding a good used or rebuilt QL-A7.