DJ360

Well of course as I'm sure you know.. any decent integrated can also be used as a power amp via the 'Tape In' or Aux In'.  The question of course is what you judge to be a good power amp.  So many options out there.

You may find it useful to look at the Pinkfishmedia site.  I've been a member on there for many years.  There is a thriving s/h market and probably safer than Fleabay etc.

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/forums/classifieds.10/

Good luck!

Well it sounds like you certainly have some decent kit there. I think we've discussed this before.. but my memory is getting shakey. The only stuff I generally don't like is Musical Fidelity. I can't put my finger on why.. just never been 'grabbed' by its sound.

Of course you don't need a phono input to be resident in the amp.  There are any number separate phono stages to be had ranging from budget stuff by the likes of Pro-ject, QED etc.. for less than £100  (probably cheaper options still on eBay/Amazon) ..up to units costing many thousands.  Mine is pretty much mid range ..an EAR 834 valve unit based around ECC82s and some fancy step up transformers designed by the late Tim De Paravicini. I bought it in 1997 for £500 and had it fully serviced by EAR last year.  The closest current equivalent from them is now around £1200

I don't know the 105... but Thorens make good stuff.  The TD124, if you can find one... is a real gem. The Linsley -Hood stuff was talked about way back when I first started my second adventure in hi-fi, after years of being down on my uppers.

Horn speakers are, as you say.. generally very efficient, but much depends on what particular set of compromises have been made in the design.. just as with any speaker principle.  I wouldn't have room for horns here.

I got rid of big valve amps and replaced them with my LFD.  I haven't regretted it.  I had a Rega Planar 2 deck, with the excellent RB250 arm. I was an excellent budget deck but when I bought a Linn LP12 in 2002, I started to hear much more of what was on the record.  That said.. the Linn...even with the 'Lingo' Power Supply and the Ittok Tonearm., never lived up to the legendary status it carries.  So.. I sold it and bought a second hand Michell Gyrodec.  'SE' version with the minimal plinth. Beautiful as they are. I can't watch those weights spinning under the platter without getting dizzy, but mine had the Orbe platter conversion.  I bought it with an Audiomods Classic tonearm..which is a modified Rega RB250.

After a while, I upgraded to the Audiomods Series 7 arm, and persuaded Steve Rowlands at Michell to sell me the bits required to convert my Gyrodec to an Orbe SE. (They don't really like doing that.. as it means they sell fewer Orbes .. but I was buying quite a lot of it to replace damaged parts...so it wasn't a big step..)  It now sounds very grown up indeed.  I use a Dynavector 17D3 MC cartridge.

Well yes.. I wouldn't hesitate to spend it if I had it to spare though. As it is my 'cheaper' amp was £3k.. but I've spent 30+ years slowly building up a system I'm happy with..and having always bought 'quality kit', it's always saleable, so it work a bit like working your way up the housing ladder.  People spend far more on following footy teams etc..over time..and are left with nothing but memories.  At least I have kit which will probably outlast me, and I get to enjoy it every day. 

And for what it's worth, I have three close neighbours who have all spent many times more on their systems...and one good friend across the other side of the village who has spent literally hundreds of thousands on kit.  But, he works very hard, doesn't run a flash car, barely drinks..etc.. So...

If you are looking for an amp.. let me know your system..especially speakers..and I may be able to recommend something good at a bit less...

Best regards,

Col

Hi Mary,

Mine were D32/33 as far as I recall, but it was way back around 15 years ago and I always hated doing assessments.  Far too much paper for my liking! 

All Careers Advisers then had a Degree (In anything) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Careers Guidance. ( That was the mimimum.. most of us had other 'Professional ' qualifications too).

But those who did the more basic work with young people ( Called 'Employment Assistants) had no specific qualifications related to Career Guidance and mostly had Admin type qualifications. So, When NVQ's in Advice and Guidance came along, we were all 'trained up' as Assessors and all of our Employment Assistants were trained to NVQ Level 3.  There was no opportunity for 'cheating', even if we'd wanted to, because our internal assessments were subject to verification by an external person.  Can't recall.. but they may have been called ' External Verifiers' or similar.

When it comes to qualifications abroad.  I don't know how other countries dealt with UK qualifications in general, but it was always understood that Germany in particular took a far more organised and rigorous view of occupational training.  They don't suffer from the snobbery which afflicts 'vocational' v 'academic' education that occurs here, and value both just as highly.

I worked alongside German Technicians when I was a 'mechanic' on German made Textile machinery in the 1970s.  They were all very highly trained.. and for example, they didn't separate people for electrical v mechanical stuff.  They all did both.

So, I wouldn't be surprised that your Brother's qualification wasn't enough to get him a Vehicle Mechanics job. However, it may be that he could have 'upgraded' his qualifications and got his existing ones taken into account.  He'd have needed the right advice and information though and I've no idea whether it would have been available to him.

I mostly came across the 'problem' of 'foreign' qualifcations when I worked in Adult Careers Guidance in the early 2000's. We had an organiisation called UK NARIC which would look at foreign qualifcations and give an 'equivalence' to UK quals so that the holder and others then knew where they stood and what to do next.

UK NARIC still exists:   https://www.naric.org.uk/naric/About%20Us.aspx

In fact it seems to have grown a bit.  This dosn't surprise me, because our wonderful Govt. have a record of cutting training places here, so that the likes of the NHS, Care Sector and Catering/Hospitality sector are obliged to recruit from abroad, so the issue of 'Foreign' qualifications is more prominent these days.

As for EU wide cooperation.. There were certainly a number of joint academic initiatives in place, such as 'ERASMUS'  https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/node_en

And SOCRATES:  http://www.socrates-project.eu/

There were no doubt others too, but I suppose that's something else that the Brexiteers are determined to remove us from, even assuming they know they exist.. which is doubtful.

I'm not so sure there was much cooperation between UK and EU at the intermediate level below 'Higher Education'.  I imagine most EU countries would look at the shambles of a training system presided over by successive UK govts and just shake their heads.

Beyond what I've said above.. I'm pretty rusty on all this as I worked in other bits of the Guidance sector for my last few years and I retired in 2014.

Col

Hello and welcome!

Helo Dixie and welcome.

Thanks Benjamin..  I won't.