Amps from the 1980's -- What gear holds up sonically? Reliably?

Hi Everyone,

For me, the 1980s were a real "golden age" of amplifiers. Dr. Leach’s paper on building a low TIM amplifier had been widely distributed and relied on by budding designers, and lots of boutique brands came. It was also the era of the biggest of the Conrad Johsnon tube amps as well and the invention of the MOSFET.

For me, brands I cared about:

• Threshold
• Sumo
• Perreaux (New Zealand, very pretty)
  
• Tandberg
• Hitachi
• Kyocera
• Nikko
• Krell (of course)
• CJ
• ARC
• Yamaha (professional)
• Carver
• Mark Levinson
  
• Amber 
• Tandberg
  

This was also the speaker era of Snell and Apogee and Martin Logan. I am not sure there would be a Krell today if it wasn't for Apogee's 1 ohm speakers.

I’m curious who is still listening to these vintage pieces, and which brands you think have stood up both in terms of reliability and / or sonics ?