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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

Showing 2 responses by analog_tiffer

analog_tiffer
21 posts
 

I worked at a well-known U.S. turntable manufacturer for a few years.   (A) there was shockingly little demand/ask for it, (2) and for those that wanted it, we’d add an AudioTechnica 6006 or Tru-Lift or similar add-on unit.   We even carried them at the factory.    I can count (maybe on one hand) the number of them I sold with new tables in a few years’ time.   And, that’s just the “lift” — no auto-shutoff.   So, from an engineering perspective, near-zero demand = a feature that’s not worth the effort (as far as being integral to the table).  It’s really just that simple.   It’s always been a staple of the Japanese tables (and some others) but never truly caught on with U.S. audiophiles.    I literally had the privilege of speaking at length with thousands of audiophiles about their analog systems, and it was ever-so-rare that anyone would ever bring it up.   
 

Jim 

analog_tiffer
21 posts
 

@larsman ….fair enough lol.   I was thinking more about the Japanese tables all of us had in the 80s and 90s; it seemed like virtually all of those now-vintage Technics tables had it.   

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