If anyone is interested in solid state, I am in the process of comparing four very good sounding amplifiers, at least two of which may fall into your category of "A Keeper for Life."
- Acoustic Imagery Atsah (Class D
monoblocks @ 300 wpc/8 ohms, Ncore, NC1200)
- Clayton M300 (Class A monoblocks @ 300
wpc/8 ohms in Class A)
- Lamm M1.2 Reference (Class A hybrid
monoblocks @ 110 wpc/8 or 4 ohms in Class A)
- SMc/McCormack DNA-2 LAE (Class AB
stereo amplifier @ 300 wpc/8 ohms with SMc Signature Edition upgrades)