Hidden Gems in Pre-Owned Solid State Power Amplifiers?

Belles and McCormack with higher-level mods — beware the older models input boards are beginning to fail and need to be replaced. I know this because I have one that needs a new board, and it’s an expensive repair.

True. I had a beloved DNA-1 Deluxe that I used for about 20 years, until it died. Caps or boards fried, and it got REALLY hot, POP! and then one channel failed. I was going to have it totally rebuilt (basically everything replaced, better than new) with the Gold upgrade, for about $2000. It’s a classic amp, but I decided to have Klaus Bunge at Odyssey Audio build me a Khartago++ for about $500 less, and it’s a great bargain amp (Jonathan Valin of Absolute Sound loves them as monoblocks, calling them a fabulous bargain).

I loved my McCormack, and Steve Mc is a brilliant designer. I would love to have a new DNA-1 Gold, top of the line upgrade.

Reference Line Audio Silver Signature. Owned one for 20 years and it's still the best solid state amp I've heard.

I still have a Reference Line PreEminence One passive line stage, and it's amazing. I can't bear to part with it, though it's not being used. I suspect it's like the Tortuga passive, which gets great reviews.

I'd heard his amps were great too. I cannot find anything about the owner of the company... it's like he vanished. Did he die?

 Harman/Kardon Citation 16.

Effortless power. There are a few very affordable upgrades that be done to make them even better. Under a thousand bucks for a good one as well. 

Nice thread. I will be in the market for one in the future. 

A lot of recommendations without any concern for what speakers will be driven (and their sensitivity, impedance, & phase angles) and the preamp/dac that will do the driving (and whether there will be an impedance mismatch between it and the amp)...

Also, plenty of amps are up for sale because of upgrades. People do buy more expensive models from within the same family simply because they love the sound and want "more of it." And some people end up with speakers that don’t match amps they love. I had to sell my Coincident Frankenstein 300b monos for that reason. It’s a lot easier to move an amp than a pair of 300lb speakers. Finally, ears and systems work differently and something that would sound terrible in one situation can be another person/system’s dream amplifier... usually because of problems in speaker/preamp matching.