20 Year Old Amplifiers compared to 2017

@fisher_400, "I have not heard new Class D, but understand the new Class D amps can compete for the most part with tube amplifiers."

@fisher_400, "The newer Class D amps are superior to most vintage amps & receivers."

To avoid 1) contradicting yourself, and 2) talking about things you have actually experienced before making declarations about them, maybe you should put more thought into what you post

This discussion i right up my alley. For years I have owned electrostatic speakers, the last pair being the upgraded Sound Lab M-1PX with hotrod backplates and a few other goodies. When I got my first Sound Labs, priior to these, I powered them with an old Moscode 600 which sounded wonderful, but was not enough power and mushy in the treble. Five years ago, I was approach by Stephen Sank of Talking Dog. he had redesigned the circuitry of the Moscode 600 with monstrous rows of caps, turning two stereo amps into two monoblocks. He, personally came to my house to set up the reborn monsters, which were making about 600W each, and I could not have been more pleased. The basic sound of the old Moscodes-liquid midrange and lack of aggression- combined with treble clarity and socko bass. These one-off prototypes were a marriage made in heaven for my electrostats. The only addition was a couple of Bybee Gold RCA adapters and Golden Goddess Speaker Bullets, utilizing crystal technology. What is old is new again. I guess the tribute tube McIntoshes made now would be cut from the same cloth.

I have a 30+ year old Counterpoint SA-12 and I love it; I just had it re-capped and am listening to it minutes after it came back :-)

I've nothing to compare it to, but I like it!!

gasbose

I think it is possible that Class A/B solid state amps made a significant jump in sound quality in the early nineties. If we go back twenty years from 2017 that puts us at 1997, so there were some very good amps even manufactured back then. To manufacture a Class A/B or pure Class A amp of that quality and metal content today would cost a great deal more money. It is no wonder why some audiophiles choose to refurbish some of those older great designs of yesterday.

Lets not forget the Carver challenge to Stereophile Magazine (J Gordon Holt)  that he could make a $700.00 amplifier (specifically his model 1.0) sound indistinguishable from any high end amp of their choice and he succeeded in doing so.

In regards to my above post, I think it begs the question if Mr. Carver can simply manipulate his circuit to compete with some very expensive amps why didn't he build his amps originally to sound that good? Would love to get Bobs answer on this question. I don't know if he is still around.