I showed off the Dual to a friend, and he wants it. He has records he wants to listen to, but no turntable. He also doesn't have an amp with a phono input. I have a 90's Denon amp in the basement on which one AUX input went bad, so I offered that to him as well. I mentioned to him that I wish I had a cordless drill, so he is trading me an old Porter Cable cordless drill for the turntable and amp. It couldn't have worked out any better. I'm glad to see the Dual go to someone who will appreciate it.

I explained the little problems with the turntable to him. I don't believe the loose tonearm bearings impact the sound much (if at all). The effect of loose bearings is supposed to be audible "chatter," but it sounds fine to my ears.

I ran it through the trackability test bands on my Shure test record, and it performed admirably, only showing some difficulty with the sibilance test (the OM 5E is a budget cartridge, after all). I see that an OM 10 replacement stylus can be had for under $40, and I think it would be a nice upgrade for the unit.

Update: the Dual is gone. It went to a good home. The Porter Cable cordless drill is quite nice - it came with a case and spare battery. I'm going to keep my eye out for other Dual tables because I think they're undervalued. I was impressed by the 505-2 and I thought $40 was an incredible bargain.

Update: I obtained a used replacement hinge on eBay for $3 with shipping, and the new owner was glad to have the cover working right again.