I actually know what you mean about the trips to Brooklyn, one of my ML 1.1s kept switching into standby during play, turned out to be a defective relay but took a few trips as it was hard to find because it was temperature-related. As for a replacement, in addition to the ones mentioned above, Ayre amps have always impressed me with their ability to convey the music like Lamms do, not class A operation but worth auditioning. Same with VAC in tubed amps.
