[SOM]

My first post on this forum....

I was wondering - are there any decent turntables that are semi-automatic anymore? I have a pretty old Denon (can't remember the model) and I'd like to upgrade at some point, but it seems that everything is totally manual anymore. I don't mind starting the record in manual mode, but it would sure be nice to have an automatic return. I'm afraid that I'll put on a record, get distracted doing something around the house, and then have an "oh sh*t!" moment when I realize that the end groove has been playing for 2 hours! That's can't be good for the stylus life!

Any recommendations? (Other than to pay attention!)

[BobM]

You could get one of those automatic after-market lifters. It won't turn off the motor, but it will lift the arm at the end of the record.

Enjoy,
Bob

[TheChairGuy]

I'm not aware of any aftermarket 'lift-off' mechanisms anymore...the last one I knew of, Expressimo Audio, who seems to have closed out their supplies to The Elusive Disc a while back.

I had an old Thorens end-of-record lift up, it was about 80% effective (tough to dial in lift at the end of record as every record ends in a different place).

I think Thorens makes a TD-295 model still that has end-of-record lift up - there may be others, too. Most of the small makers of today don't so much as engineer, as tinker...and they don't have resources to make end-of-record mechanisms for their players. So, what you get is fully manual.  Then, there are DJ tables, which are generally manul as the DJ is always nearby spinning discs - so they are manual.

I have fully auto on my 20 year old JVC TT...and it's so great not to worry about that needle wearing down at end-of-play.  You may just want to 'upgrade' to a higher line Denon of 20+ years ago...when semi-auto was the norm 

[anal.log]

The arm lifters that I remember was one made by Audio Techinca, is was a springloaded/pneumatic lift that was had a hair trigger which was tripped by the tone arm.

 The other I remember was made by Alphason, It had a small magnet that attached to the tone arm and was pulled up by another mounted on a little stand.