Jeff Rowland Model 1

My belief, is amplifiers should be purchased to match the speakers it will be driving, and I am into " easily driven " speakers, not needing an amplifier to " double down " as georgie states.

Like I said Great amp, and my reason for saying it also, is that the OP hasn’t stated which speaker yet. He’s listen to ML esl’s which are a min 1ohm, this amp will handle it.
And this amp is that can drive anything he decides to get, now or in the future,
The OP can get any speaker with it and it will be happy diving them because of these figures. Tested at
84W into 8 ohms
140W into 4 ohms
220W into 2 ohms.

Cheers George

George, I am with you, not questioning you at all...Following the few posts by the OP, it appears he owns Maggies. A friend of his has ML, and purchased a Model 1.......The OP does not like mosfets either, including Pass......Opinions vary, experiences vary, likes and dislikes in this hobby vary. George, you are one of my favorite people here on the " Gon......all good, my friend....Always, and Enjoy ! MrD.

My thinking is amplifier design had reached maturity by the turn of the century and that any high end amp even if its 30 years old will stand up to anything today as long as it is serviced( new caps etc. Do you guys think anything new out there at 900 bucks can beat this little Rowland Model 1 or any other used amp out there for same price. I called and talked to Jeff himself and he said he will service it for 500 bucks. So is there any new amp out there for 1500  new that will compete? Again I am on a strict budget. 

Plenty of used amps for $1500 that will compete.  Like already stated, good little amp, warm and musical, no game changer.  $900 is the max for a great condition one.  The amp uses modules so if it breaks a local tech cannot repair it.  An old HK Citation 16 to my ears is a much better amp in direct comparison but the JR will be a little sweeter in the mids.

Happy Listening.

Lot of folks, myself included, believe that Jeff's amps from that era are superior to a number of his later class D designs. To that, at the price point you are looking at, and with a service from Jeff, I think it would be next to impossible to buy something new that would better this amp.
Lot of people will naysay the idea, I doubt any of them have actually owned or lived with a model 1. As an owner of a model 8T that Jeff modded for me, I can tell you that it easily competes with a number of other ss amps from today that are not built anywhere near as solid, or sound anywhere near as resolved or transparent. The current crop of ss amps are also many multiples in price of Jeff's 'Golden era' amps.
HK Citation 16....LOL, not in the same league at all as the model 1, IME.