Old SS amps

I have been to Audio Events as a Entry Paying Visitor where the Enthusiast / Hobbyist owner of Audio Equipment are sharing the Event with the Commercial Sector as an Exhibition.

For the Hobbyist Enthusiast there is to my knowledge nothing for sale on the day unless entered into a Charity Auction.

There might be a service offered by a few of the Hobbyist / Enthusiast attendees that is available to further investigated outside of the show.

The Commercial Sector are what they are, Exhibiting Items from a recent design and production as a clear purchasable item.

At Events like this, there are the Commercial Exhibits that raise to the occasion, and will insert into a System being exhibited a Source produced from a Vintage era, a Japanese DD TT or British ID TT are to be seen in place of an alternative recent design model as a Analogue Source.

The Hobbyist / Enthusiast are usually with a System that is made up of devices bordering on Vintage or actually Vintage.  Their Sources used are ranging from Quite Old Tech, Recent Tech, Current Tech.

At such Events the Enthusiast / Hobbyist Exhibiting Rooms are constantly visited and able to hold visitors who are receiving demo's of the system with their own music brought along or the System owners selection.

Commercial Rooms are getting similar volume of footfall, but rarely are seen able to hold a captive audience for a period of time, as does the Hobbyist / Enthusiast. There is not really personalities involved, but the lesson quickly grasped is that a Audio System built using a range of products from different eras, is able to be extremely impressive as a system when assessing the End Sound. It is also quickly learnt if an inquiry is made or a little further investigation is carried out, that a system need not extend to much more than £5K to be an obvious competitor to systems costing in current New Purchase Markets £60K and ascending.

Getting out and doing footwork, having experiences of Audio Systems is the only way to have a really good lesson in a short time line. Reading about a device or system is only that, "Reading about a device or system". Reading is not experiencing End Sound.    

Here are some solid state amps with cult followings:

- Bedini 25/25

- BEL 1001 Mk.IV

- Electron Kinetics Eagle 2

Still using a 30 year old Onkyo TX-8011 with Audio Physic Spark floor standers. While not the last word in resolution, the pair are musical.

I purchased them together, in the last trimester before my son’s birth, when I was told by other dad’s to buy what I want now, because I would be broke for the next 22 years. How right they were

Anyone remember Proton amps? They were a spinoff from NAD, which was itself a spinoff from AR. I remember the Proton sound was beefy and resonate, when they worked. Too often, they blew transistors.

ETA--Did anyone own Lafayette Radio Electronics equipment? That was my intro to "hifi." My neighbors bought their amplifier, speakers and a Garrard turntable. I was SO envious, and saved up $$$ from my newspaper route to buy exactly what they had.

I have a 40 year old Denon PMA 757 in my separate vintage system---I've only had it serviced once when the volume knob had a little static and one of the lights went out. Other than that---no issues. Still sounds great.

@OP As Hk_fan says above, it is brand and maybe even model dependent. If you are looking at twenty years plus, especially if it's a high powered amp, you can expect to be looking at a PSU reservoir caps replacement - though not necessarily immediately. A visual inspection will show if there are major dangers. However, caps are not the only failure point in an amplifier - e.g. rectifiers and output devices are also prone to failure. And replacement components are not necessarily available. So it's basically a crapshoot. Gear can on on for ages or it can fail. I've seen old Quad 405s get beaten to death in studios and go on almost indefinitely. You pays your money and takes your chances.