Old SS amps

The best sounding/performing SS power amp I have ever owned is a a Krell KSA-250 (released in 1989). Purchased used, in Singapore and shipped back home to Paris as "Luggage". In those days (2002) you could combine family luggage allowances. Got home plugged it in and my 3 teenage daughter all went, "Wow Dad, what have you done"! It was a tremendous improvement over everything else I had previously owned. Moved back to the USA in 2004 and had the amp shipped directly to Krell for a service (less than $1k from what I remember), a lot of capacitors were replaced. Used it for another 10 years, always sounded perfect to me. Then I sold it, biggest mistake in HiFi to date! For years I have thought about buying a used replacement.

I don’t quite understand cap replacement’s how do you tell when they are bad when I’m still impressed & happy with my systems sound? I’m kind of the mindset that if it works don’t fix it. 

@pjlivengood 

You got it: if the amps work, leave the caps alone.

You may want to have bias current and DC offset checked, however. They tend to drift over time. Elevated bias causes operating temperature to rise, and with it the risk of chronic overheating and thermal damage, which can be quite devastating. As for DC offset, it can potentially damage your speakers, but most amps have protective circuitry that shuts down the outputs before damage occurs.

When I lost a capacitor on my ML 336 the right channel got static that would not go away.  In my experience you will know when one needs to be replaced.

I’ve bought nearly 20 used amps of various vintage, many 20-30 years old by now.  Only two have had sound problems (as opposed to needing new bulbs in meters and that sort of thing): a Levinson 23 which are known to cook themselves to death, and a Classe that still works but has occasional right channel fussiness. 

The rest work great. 

IMHO, buying new vs used says more about the personality of the owner than the reliability of the gear (not saying either is superior).  I have friends that just won’t own used. 

I was given a McIntosh MC2250, it was many years old, I used it trouble free for many more years, until I went back to efficient horn speakers and tube preamp/amp. 

https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/legacy-products/amplifiers/MC2250

Had it checked by McIntosh at a lab day at Harvey’s NYC when I got it, checked perfect, beyond spec, needed one LED replaced; and had it checked/certified by McIntosh factory in Binghamton, NY prior to selling it, needed nothing.