"Serge Auckland" wrote in message
...
With a budget of £1000 (or indeed with any budget) I would buy used. There
is Ebay, with a constant stream of equipment, and/or dealers who sell on
their part-exchanges. Hi-Fi equipment has been of a very high quality for
at east twenty years, so anything you are likely to buy used will sound as
good as something new provided obviously, it's in good condition. Buying
from a dealer will allow you to take it back if it doesn't work properly.
As to brands, QUAD is always good and reliable, but doesn't have a
headphone output, so you may want to look at Audiolab and A&R Cambridge
(ARCAM).

How far does the bad capacitor problem effect hi-fi equipment?. I mean the
notoriously bad ones which were manufactured or should I say incorrectly
counterfeited a number of years ago.