I bought my Crown International in 1980.
I used it for 45 years. The model was Pl-1 power amp, and SL-1 preamp. I was impressed the pre-amp had a separate gain adjustable phono amp. I retired it 4 years ago. I now stream and burn cds on an Innuos Mini Mk III.
At that time I was looking for a replacement for the Crown equipment. I compared side by side with a new Shiit Vidar power amp and Freya preamp. They sounded great, However, the 50WPC Crown ran all over Vidar for power. The Vidar was rated at 100wpc.
I laughed in amazement because that was not supposed to happen. Phasing was checked. I have 8ohm tower speakers, 89spl, not load heavy. The PL1, SL1 matched pair out performed gear I did not think it would be in the same league with. The Crown was fast, silent, detailed. It slammed harder on low drums, kicks bass and much better control over the sound. It just sounded more real, better. If the Crown gear was new, I think it would have really outpaced the Shiit gear. I also compared it to the all in one blue sound gear. The crown slaughtered it , no contest. The switches were worn out on the preamp causing noise. I figured I got more than my moneys worth out of it. I ended up with a Primaluna, which out paced the Crown by quite a margin in all areas at 1/3 the power. My opinion is there is much old equipment from Crown, Mac, phase linear, Carver, Sansui, and high end that will still impress. They will not sound as good as they were new, due to capacitor drift, component wear, but might still be great. The biggest concern is always power supply, driver, PA sections of the power amp that handles more power. Electrolytic capacitors can change value over time, leak, get noisy under load. Best to have them checked.