Reminiscing about Dual and AR turntables

Erik, I am not sure what you mean by “better and easier to buy”.  The vintage Thorens turntables that receive a lot of attention are the TD 124 and the TD 125. There are later models that are also admired by some and used by many. I think all of those turntables are inherently far superior to the AR and generally the Dual turntables as well. The Thorens  turntables may be more plentiful on the used market because more of them were purchased to begin With. Therefore I guess you could say they are “easier to buy”. I am not a big fan of the TD 124 myself, but that’s just my opinion.

Almost everyone who is old enough went through the cycle of owning an AR-XA and a Dual of some type or other.  I think those turntables can be regarded with nostalgia but not a desire to re-visit them, albeit one or two of the Dual turntables can be brought up to decent performance by modern standards, with a lot of TLC.  Dual made the first direct-drive turntable with the first coreless motor, after all.