If you want a belt-drive or idler wheel TT, with modern amenities like non-intrusive auto shutoff and/or quartz lock regulation, Duals are as good as they get. By the time the CS-506 and CS-5000 were being produced, Japan had gone whole hog into DD.
The older ones from the 70's (with the typical start-stop lever) had unreliable Auto start and Stop mechanisms, so make sure that is working. I've had three of them over the years, and while they look and feel a bit clunky compared to the Japanese, the sound was IMO better than the Japanese DD.
On the other hand, for a cheap basement system the Japanese TT's are much easier to find, set up, and use.
The older ones from the 70's (with the typical start-stop lever) had unreliable Auto start and Stop mechanisms, so make sure that is working. I've had three of them over the years, and while they look and feel a bit clunky compared to the Japanese, the sound was IMO better than the Japanese DD.
On the other hand, for a cheap basement system the Japanese TT's are much easier to find, set up, and use.