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

I have a manual Rega in the living room and a fully automatic Thorens in the listening room. I love auto lift/shutoff. If I get distracted by anything in the house, I don't come back to my stylus going scrickity pop scrickity pop... There is no reason why a properly engineered automatic mechanism should affect the sound. We've come a long way since my Dual 1209 and Garrard SL95.

It's a great convenience. Could I live without it? I do! Do I like having it? I do!

To each their own compromises, go with the audio gods, and have fun.

I'd look at the Thorens TD 1601 and the Music Hall Stealth. Good luck!

The he only time I felt a need for automation was once when I was so stoned I could not trust my own manual dexterity to effect the needed steps without doing damage to stylus or LP. Even then I was alert enough to shut down the system before beating a strategic retreat.

@lewm 

The he only time I felt a need for automation was once when I was so stoned I could not trust my own manual dexterity to effect the needed steps without doing damage to stylus or LP

I'm really pretty sure this is the exact problem digital streamers were invented to solve. LOL

What's a "digital streamer"?  Sounds pornographic to me.

@lewm no, it's an obscenity.