Amps with meters ...

My Marantz 4400 quad system. I would stare at the ocilloscope and it sounded the best....duuude.

I have two Pioneer Spec-4 amps and can't imagine them without the big meters. When I'm really into the music, I'm too busy dancing around to be distracted by them. Also have an Accuphase E-202 integrated that has power meters, but they are defeatable. Just to show how warped I am, the first Spec-4 I bought had a non-functioning meter. I refused to use it, bought another very nice Spec-4, and searched e-Bay for a year before finding a replacement meter. But don't write me off - I also own gear by Cary and Musical Fidelity. IMHO, it's all good for what ails us.

I use the meters on my preamp and they have a practical purpose. I can monitor (and adjust) the phono stage gain or monitor the output level that shows me my system has around 15-20dB of headroom at normal listening levels... oh and I can switch it off too.

I must admit that I’m a sucker for pretty meters

I'd love to have an amp with big meters!  I very nearly pulled the trigger on a Mac, but simply too expensive, and not a fan of the Autoformer.   I'd bet if Emotiva packaged their $1200 amp with nice big analog meters, they could easily sell it for $2000.  There simply are NO big-VU-meter amps out there for under $4000.... (new that is).