Good advice, I think, in both posts above. Just to add to that info, I have an Audiolab 8000A, built circa '86 which is still running strong. I have, however, had to re-cap the phono stage, which I did a few years ago, so this may well be an issue that may be imminent with a 10 year old piece. To be honest, I have never been totally satisfied with the re-cap on the phono stage, having taken it to a local tech who improvised and fixed it to the best of his ability. I have a feeling I definitely lost something with that re-cap, but if the phono stage is less important to you or unimportant to you, this is definitely less of an issue.
The loose rca's on the other hand might be more of an issue. As an upgrade (and I am not gifted with a soldering iron, much less any other piece of equipment used for manual labor), I had the rca's replaced on my 8000A with Cardas' a few years ago as well, (which cost me about $200 Cnd. or about $130 U.S.). This was a fairly serious upgrade sonically, and with extensive chassis damping as well (very cheap to do), I feel that I would have to spend considerably more (as in 3 to 4 times what I have invested in my ancient 8000A) to get a a worthwhile improvement in amplification and my 8000A is still a very strong piece of equipment. The Audiolab stuff, in general, is built like a brick "s+_*%$#use" and is very neutral as well as very tweakable. I think, as Sean said above, if you pay a few hundred for it, you can spend a bit more if need be and still be very happy. But you don't want to go chasing 10-15 year old equipment in this day and age.
The loose rca's on the other hand might be more of an issue. As an upgrade (and I am not gifted with a soldering iron, much less any other piece of equipment used for manual labor), I had the rca's replaced on my 8000A with Cardas' a few years ago as well, (which cost me about $200 Cnd. or about $130 U.S.). This was a fairly serious upgrade sonically, and with extensive chassis damping as well (very cheap to do), I feel that I would have to spend considerably more (as in 3 to 4 times what I have invested in my ancient 8000A) to get a a worthwhile improvement in amplification and my 8000A is still a very strong piece of equipment. The Audiolab stuff, in general, is built like a brick "s+_*%$#use" and is very neutral as well as very tweakable. I think, as Sean said above, if you pay a few hundred for it, you can spend a bit more if need be and still be very happy. But you don't want to go chasing 10-15 year old equipment in this day and age.