as per the title - i’m using quad “current dumpers” here, have been for a year ish (though i’ve always wanted them since using them in studios back in the day).
probably a bit old for most of the folks on here but thought i’d ask 
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909 Stereo, 909 Mono, QSP and QMP have passed over my threshold.
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Quad 33 and Quad 405.
Experimented with the early quads in the day, but moved on. Early solid state sound to these ears. Probably not a good match for my ADS 810 speakers.
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I spent many an hour in the local stereo emporium (Sacramento, boy that that take me back) with the 405. Critical audition and casual listening. It really sang with the (sadly long discontinued) Jim Rogers JR149 mini-monitors and matching subwoofer. Brit electronics driving Brit speakers, not surprising it was a great match. That pairing is what convinced a lad with little discretionary income to spring for the JR149/subwoofer system, but I didn’t have the coin to purchase the 405 too. It’s been way too long to venture a guess how it would do in my system today, but my memory from then is it was sweet indeed when paired with speakers it liked. It liked the JR149s.
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Yes they are considered Retro these days, and I’m not sure what topology they use in their recent offerings (they’ve been bought by one of the conglomerates along with many British brands, though their Huntingdon base of old still does servicing of all their historical kit).
I wasn’t so keen on the 405, but the slightly later variant of the circuit - as used in the 306, 606, and (my personal fave) the 520F has been sounding really good here (paired with modern DAC and digital sources etc.)
I’ve never used or owned the preamps / control units etc. though I have read about many more servicing issues on the preamps (all that switching etc. I expect). Their look is very cool - just makes me think of Gerry Anderson’s U.F.O for some reason, maybe it’s all the coloured buttons as per @weedeewop’s pics 
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You mentioned the 306 once or twice too I think (about them being fairly easy to get on eBay for a standard price, which is where I got mine)
I looked up the QMP circuit diagram: still basically their standard circuit!
It strikes me it must be a good design (for some value of “good”) since the kept using it for over 20 years (or more) and just made very minor tweaks over time.
Compared to 909, QMP/QSP had a standby function, balanced inputs and the power switch moved to the front.
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Loved my JR149. Not that difficult to find a pair.
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Emporium HiFi usually have them, also Audio Gold in Ally Pally, near me.
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Back in the 1990’s I had 405 MkII and 44 preamp. I nearly bought their FM4 tuner, but never did in the end. The DIN interconnects were rubbish and I bypassed them altogether and hard wired maplin interconnect cable between the units and it sounded 100 times better. My 405 drove my KEF 104/2s
Correction: mid 80’s not 90’s
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Yup. I’ve seen vintage pairs are available. With the right amplification, those monitors threw a wall to wall image I’ve never been able to quite duplicate. It was remarkable.
Yes pretty much everything I saw in the 70s (my childhood I guess) was DIN plugs. A right pain to terminate cables with!
It’s XLRs on the 520s, later ones have speakon for output, both of which I’m happy with.
Ah well if I lived in London - I remember my uncle Derek taking me ‘round all the old HiFi shops and electronics shops (and flea markets) when I was I kid
They do mail order and turn over a lot of stock.
One of their big things was renting period-appropriate vintage hifi to the BBC for film and TV.
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I have, or I had, Quad 44 preamp and 606 mk2 power amplifier. I can’t remember if I still have them? I will search through the pile of equipment in my outbuildings, and if I do still have them, I will send them down to you. You might get some use out of them. Not looking for anything in return.
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I still have my KEF 101 Reference, also a fine sounding pair of speakers for scaled down music. They were in a dedicated office system that is gradually being disassembled piecemeal.
Ooh if you do find them that’d be grand, thanks!
They do have a “look” about them that was, in the nineties anyway, rather different from the standard black rectangular HiFi boxes from the likes of arcam et al
I shall peruse their website, for fun at least, thanks for the link
I thought my 405 II was great but I always suspected my 44 pre was a bit “bloatwear” and electrically very noisy with all this sliding-in modules and cabling etc
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but oh so flexible and modular - and proper tape loops!
perfect for a “science project” system
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