Power amplifier longevity… thoughts?

I have an Onix & Soap I purchased in 1987 and a Mac MC250 c. 1980 that work and sound perfectly fine.

I'm about in the same boat.  My MMGs are fed by a B&K EX-442 Sonata w/Toshiba cans that is early 90s ('90 - '93, not sure which year).  No issues whatsoever with sound or performance, but I've been preparing myself to ship it to John Hillig at Musical Concepts/Musical Design to have it refreshed with one of his B&K mods.  Probably do it when I head down to Florida this winter, as I won't be needing it for a few months while gone.   

audiofilo123

I personally would not buy a 20 year old amplifier, for various reasons that I do not know the provenance, and would expect some repair expenses......but I must admit that I've never owned any planar speaker.

I am not against used by any means, but I'd be more apt to buy something newer (even used): Hegel H20 (130 amps), CODA, Pass Labs, or Sanders

I have owned and used my Proceed HPA-2 for 6 years.  Mark Levinson designed dual monoaural beast that can go 500w/4 ohms.  My Time Frame 2000s are 8-4 ohms, 92 db sensitivity and rated to 1000w.

When I owned a bigger house I enjoyed turning up the music past local listenability and do things around the house including electric mowing the lawn.  Unleashing the latent dynamism of my system always made me (and it) smile.  My point is I have driven this amp well past normal use for a long time.

As I understand one of the hallmarks of a Levinson design was all discrete components.  I suspect many of the older amps discussed here are of the same design philosophy.  Relatively easy to troubleshoot and repair. As far as I can tell my output transistors are still made.

I suspect most amp candidates here are massively overbuilt for most use.  I know mine is.  Most any machine is killed more by frequent start stop than actual use.  The preamp end of this amp is always powered as indicated by a separate light on the very sparse panel.

These amps are still around for 1200-1500.  I worry WAY more about something giving out on one of my TFs than my amp.

Although I'm not a HT guy the fact that a HPA-3, tri monoaural amp with the same power is available for folks that like all channels powered the same.

It's great to have choices!

I was in a very similar position about 7 years ago, looking for a used amplifier that would easily drive Magnepan 1.7s.  I tried a Bryston B60, Hegel H2O, and a Devialet Expert 200.  They all worked well and sounded very good, and they are all in your price range used. My preference, and what I’ve stuck with, was the Devialet. But that’s me. You’ll have your own personal preference.  Each of these units was about 5 or 6 years old when I bought them, and they all were very dependable. I’m still using the Bryston also. 
 

enjoy!

@cdorval1 at the dealer, I have listened the 1.7i with an EAM integrated (made in Italy) and they sounded ok - it was my first real Magnepan experience - but now, after living with the LRS+ for a month, listening daily, I must say that amp lacked some grip on the speakers, evident in some hardness on the voices on some recordings. Also the room was a bit small for them.

Looks like power and current aren’t necessarily for the Maggies to play loud, but to control the frequencies at both extremes… just what I have concluded so far, am I right?

Surprisingly, on the other hand, I am currently using a Naim Nap 150X (around 75w / 4 Ohms) and it surpasses in control all the >250w / 4 Ohms high current amplifiers in my collection.