Music Reference RM200 or David Berning ZH270?

Well guys, my deal on the ZH270 fell through. The seller misrepresented himself and the age of the amp he had for sale. The amp may be just fine for all I know, but I choose not to deal with someone who rates a product a 10/10 and I find out from Berning that it is 7 years old.

Slowhand, yea, wait for a good buyer - most berning owners are, but there are also some "proto-types" out there that guys seek to sell as better than the current version (and maybe but how do you know and resale is a killer...). People don't sell them much so you have to jump on them with a good seller immediately. Also, make sure you stick a good IC in their between the Supra and Berning. Put a Purist in there and some NOS tubes on the Berning and you'll be set for quite a while. let us know how it goes. Good luck.

Slowhand,
I would contact Allan Bhagan as Kriskosiba mentioned above (Hey Kris, how are you? great meeting you in Montreal!), because (1) he is the one who knows Berning best, and (2) there is quite a good chance that current ZH270 owners actually re-sell back to him for better value. I understand completely that you want it as inexpensive as possible. But the truth is there are still so few (relatively) ZH270 out there and this is unusually/ highly complicated and sensitive product, thus you want to be really sure that the condition is nothing less than perfect. Ken

I think that since the Berning amps generally retain about 80% of retail value on the used market, it is worth it to just buy new. I agree that tube rolling is beneficial with these amps, just as it would be with just about any tube amp. Mfrs cannot use NOS tubes because of flucuating prices and availability.

Well boys, maybe the audio gods are shining on me. Allan hooked me up with a great guy that is selling me a 1 year old ZH270 with NOS tubes that have been cryogeniclly treated. Thanks again Allan. I should have it next week and will let you know how it sounds. Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread.