[Lazarus Short]

I own three British amps:

Arcam Delta 60 integrated
Mission/Cyrus II integrated
Meridian 201 pre

The Cyrus and the Meridian both have the HP jack in the BACK, and why is that? Unless the amp is on a top shelf, mantel or otherwise accessable from the top, the jack is very hard to get to. In the case of the Meridian, the on/off switch is also on the back, and rather hard to reach. I can't help but wonder if they follow the same design philosophy as B&O, to have an uncluttered faceplate. Euro ergonomics always did baffle me.

Laz

 

[Duggeh]

Power switch on the back because you're generally supposed to just leave it on. As for headphone socket in the back, im guessing that'd be because at the time when the amps were made, headphones were not nearly as ubiquitous an audio acessory as they are today.

 

[Lazarus Short]

Indeed.

 

[J.D.N]

Yeh, power on the back 'cos you shouldn't ever turn it off. Same with my Naim CD player, and will be with the Naim pre/power amps im getting soon.

I looked at the Cyrus pre vs2, and the headphone out seems like an afterthought. Listened through it in the shop, didnt sound like anything particularly special.

 

[1UP]

My old Cyrus One had its jack on the side; useless and weird!

 

[memepool]

Some later versions of the Cyrus One and Two had the headphone jacks on the front.
I have the original one where it's on the back and the last two which doesn't have one at all, both cracking amps with especially good phono stages. CD is only middling though as these are hardcore Flat Earth components that didn't believe in band limiting...

My Naims don't have headphone sockets at all....