Old SS amps

Around the mid ’80’s Bob Carver made some very good sounding amplifiers with an unusual and very light power supply. He challenged critics to hear any difference between his M1.0 and an expensive high-end tube amp (forgot which one) - and he proved his point- they couldn’t hear a difference.
Subsequent designs like the PM1.5t and PM2.0t were made for the pro audio industry and they were immediately accepted for their light weight and superb audio quality - and now you can find these used on eBay for around $500. 
I don’t think anything these days at any price will give you better performance than these vintage Carvers- even at at ten times the price.

Only down side: A little bit of fan noise, but in a home system where these will be barely whispering, you can easily disconnect the fan, like I did with mine, running the woofers in a bi-amped system.
 

Marc Stager
and check out my cables:
https://silversolids.com/

Might not have all the numbers straight but

I like the 74ish Marantz 2035. 2135?  Cat Steven's,!  

I didn't like Sansui, Kenwood, Pioneer but could be mixed up.

Magnapans were too much for Ampzilla, Quattre.  I believe we settled on SAE.

We had Carvers and Leaches. Nice sounding amps.  The leach was reliable, Carver no.  

I still use an 8002 Aragon solid state dual monaural for my power amp. It is clear as a bell and puts out 400 watts into 4 ohms and is about 30 years old. Bought it new and have never been disappointed.

@bdp24: I have all three! My Bedini 25/25 still doesn’t work despite being sent to John Bedini (RIP) in Idaho three times. The Brown Electronics Lab (BEL) 1001 amp worked briefly after I acquired it from the original owner. He was a friend of Richard Brown (RIP). It is the first production one - serial no. 0001. The John Iverson (RIP) Electron Kinetics Eagle 2A is still working. All three are competitive sonically with today's six-figure made-in-Switzerland amps!

I have 3 old Yamaha AVRs.  One is 29 years old, another is 25 and the third is 21.  They all still work.  Amps last forever as long as the on/off switch works in my experience.  I bought the newest one used for $25 at a yard sale.  A great deal.