Amps from the 1980's -- What gear holds up sonically? Reliably?

Wow some of you are running 30 years old amps...I have Naim components from 2004 and it seems they are in need of a rebuilt according to many owners and sellers....Gee, they don’t tell you that in the sale pitch...They still sound good to me...Had Meridian 101/105 from the early 80 and these sounded great.

Have a Crown PL Three and SL Two silver face setup driving Tannoy LRM's and JBL 4311's. Don't know if there's a better looking power package (PL Four excluded) than this setup. Can't tell you the ease in which this amp drives my gear. Hasn't EVER given me an issue... put it all away for 10yrs but is now back in my main system. Also have a Nikko Alpha 220/Beta 20 stack that is almost equally impressive although not as handsome. That is now driving a set of ads L1230's in another room. I have had the Nikko equipment since new '82 playing almost every day and it has never required even a bulb. Guess my faves are my vintage Crown and Nikko amp/pre pairs. 

Still use a pair of Sumo Andromeda II A’s driving a pair of like vintage Acoustat 1100’s via a like vintage Audio Research LS 2B MKII. Every time I bring in something new to test drive against what I have the newbie gets smoked and sent back.   Have an even older Sansui TU-9900 tuner but thats been completely redone by Mike at Radio X and uses much newer Burr Brown chips.

It was nice because most tube amps sounded musical back then. Now more than half the tube amps sounds closer to solid state, at least in tonal balance. I wish Conrad Johnson had stuck closer to their musicality heritage, for example.

Who didn't like the look of McIntosh? I always loved the look! ;) The green glow.

I just sold my quad 63 and went back to Snell Type A... The originals, totally refurbished. Both are magnificent sounding speakers. They complete against expensive designs of today. It is amazing how little speakers have improved in almost fifty years ... once again, in terms of musicality.

True story. Back then I purchased a preamp from a woman who worked for a terrific high end store west of Madison WI. As we talked, she related to me that she was into high-end. She told me that her theta amp was the best she had ever heard. She also related that she kept it hidden from her husband and pulled it out whenever he went to work. Ultimately, she was discovered and her love for her amp, led to her divorce....