Opinions on vintage Dual turntables

Aside from an emotional, or "soft spot" as you say, attachment there is little value in seeking out older Duals if performance is your primary criteria.

As others have noted, newer products from Rega, MusicHall, etc. will smoke the Duals.

If you're committed to retro, look to Denon, Micro Seiki, Luxman, etc.

IMO

Advise well taken. I like the convenience of the automatics as I'm not always poised to lift the tonearm at the end of the record. Is there a drop-oof in performance, probably. Will I hear it, not sure..

There are a number of semi-automatics from Denon, Pioneer, Yamaha, Technics etc. that provide both convenience and performance.

I don't know why there is such a concentration for these older designs. I had a Dual 731Q, that was at its time the best from all. When I did listen the first time to an Oracle TT from one of my buddies at that time, I thought, I am in the wrong Universe. I sold it. And never looked back.
But, when you like this Company, what they made they made it right. But it was for Mass Market. But I have a similar opinion to other brands of this era, too.

A lot of it is nostalgia I guess but the German engineering in some models was spot on. I picked up a nice 1228 and will give that a try. Thanks all!