It's hard to overstate the grip that the Dual brand had on Britain's 1980s hi-fi scene - the company had worked its way deep into the fabric of British audiophile life. David Price listens to its parting shot, the CS5000 semi-automatic turntable.

Back in the nineteen eighties, if you were serious about sound on a budget, then vinyl was your only choice. For most of the decade, CD was the province of the rich - in today's terms, even the cheapest Philips machines were selling for over £300 at the end of the decade. No, if you only had half that amount - or less - to spend, then vinyl it was. 

Although the early eighties saw a number of Japanese 'budget audiophile' turntables jostling for hi-fi buyers cash - from Sansui's SR222/II to Pioneer's PL512 - there was only one real choice. Launched at the 1980 Harrogate show, Dual's £120 CS506 proved a revelation. It was a high quality, well built, semi-auto deck sporting a (then fashionable) ULM (Ultra Low Mass) tonearm complete with matching Ortofon cartridge. It proved an instant hit, but Dual got the whiff of success and decided to bring out an even more conspicuously 'value-for-money' product. 

The result was the CS505 - which proved a budget blockbuster in the truest sense of the world. £75 bought you most of the CS506's feature set, minus the illuminated strobe and lavish wood plinth. As neither of these features did much for the sound quality, the 505 lost very little from its bigger brother apart from its hefty price tag. Suddenly, every other entry-level turntable fell by the wayside compared to this slick piece of German engineering.

It was interesting to watch a European brand doing to the Japanese what they'd previously done to the likes of Garrard and BSR a decade earlier. Every hi-fi magazine scratched its head hard but just couldn't come up with a reason not to buy the CS505. The only obvious upgrade was the Rega Planar 2, which cost virtually twice as much when the price of a cart-ridge was factored in. 

Not content to rest on its laurels, the CS505 was soon improved. The basic belt drive, independently sprung subchassis design was retained, but the fussy cartridge mounting system was improved - and a superior cartridge fitted - to make 1984's CS505/I. Then came a modified platter mat offering better support and another plinth change to give the CS505/I Improved. The 1986 CS505/II had a better headshell and the option of a Deluxe model, offering the now defunct CS506's real wood plinth back again. 

The 505 went from success to success, selling by the bucket load, but Dual sniffed a lost opportunity and decided they wanted more. The 1987 CS5000 was the result - essentially a 'high end' 505 with microprocessor controlled, quartz referenced motor complete with 78RPM speed facility, still driving the platter by a belt, and a better engineered arm with VTA adjustment and superior Ortofon OM20 fitted cartridge. A clear improvement over the CS505 family, this £200 deck boasted a useful wow and flutter figure of 0.025% and a S/N ratio of 80dB - similar figures to seventies superdecks such as Technics' SP10. 

Dual turntables have never sounded as good as Regas - bass is quite lightweight, and they're overly slick and airbrushed sounding. Although they make very nice noises, with a smooth and sweet tonality and no obvious vinyl nasties, they're a little unengaging. The CS5000 is like this but more so - plug it into a modern system and it sounds beautifully polished and refined, and makes a very pleasing job of anything you care to play. It doesn't, however, really get to the heart and soul of the music as a Rega Planar 3 would. 

The good news is that all Duals - and the CS5000 in particular - are now pretty unfashionable, and as such superb value first turntables. If you've been born and raised with CD, you'll be amazed how sweet and beguiling vinyl can be for such a small outlay.

For £50 you can pick up a reasonable CS505, whereas £125 will buy you a mint boxed CS5000. You can partner the former to an Audio Technica AT110E for £25, but if pressed the latter is up to tracking Goldring's superb £100 G1042. Don't, however, be tempted to use a moving coil in a Dual - the low mass tonearm is a poor mechanical match. Now as then, there's little better in turntable value than a Dual