what is the best amp you've ever heard


Period.
fruff1976
Tube: CAT JL-1 Limited Edition monoblocks ($50k).

Solid State: My darTZeel ($21.2k).

Honorable mention tube: My VAC 70/70 Renaissance Mk. III ($14k).

Honorable mention solid-state: My old Rowland Model 6 monos with Rowland battery power supplies ($16.4k).

I listed prices because we know you are shopping for an amp.

If you really want to spend $7k on a high-powered amp that will last "for at least the next 20 years" and that will not sound like sh-t when you move on to music other than rock, then the suggestion from some poster on your other thread about the McCormack 500 is not bad. As for the "20 years", Steve McCormack/c-j does not have Bryston's warranty policy, however, and now that I really think about it, tube amps, due to the fact that you basically have a new amp each time you retube them, may be preferable for you. Tubes also do really well with rock as compared to solid-state due to their headroom and second-order distortion characteristics. If I were a rocker, I would look for a pair of Sonic Frontiers Power 3 monoblocks ($3.5-$4k used) -- they throw off some heat, but they use good output transformers, are otherwise well built, decent output tubes hold bias in them, they have balls, and when your testosterone level drops and you transition into other forms of music ("1976", right? The clock is ticking for YOU), you'll find they have the finesse as well as the muscle needed to come close to handling music like orchestral and big band that is truly challenging to a stereo.
In 1973 I heard 21 700 wpc Phase Linear amps driving six?, eight? stacks of speakers while Pink Floyd opened their Dark side of the Moon tour... I've yet to hear or see a better single album, one band show give as many goose pimples as did that one. Fascinating experience.

Past that the Levinson 300 wpc mono blocks running the big pair of Magnapans was an erie audition... eyes closed or open. Fast and articulate with startling immediacy.

Tubes? Only time I ever was simply stopped in my tracks and simply stunned by a home audio audition, was the first time I heard Thor 30wpc monos. Wet, organic, and gutsy.... uh, them, not me.
Sam Kim's EL-84 Heathkit 151 wired in triode...NOT a restoration, but
Sam's original design created in the Heath's chassis. The EL84's are MUSICAL tube, and the amp has clarity, jump and just the right amount of tube EL84
MAJIC! It has tone controls too, which I really like. I like this amp even more than my Fi 2a3 monoblocks!
AudioNote Ongaku at a Hi-fi show in England around 1990. Silly price, but they were just wonderful.