How far have ss amps really come in the last twenty years?

@daveyf Yes, it's true. I'm reaching back a bit into the 1970s but a Class A amp from that period still provides a lot of bang for the buck if you get one rebuilt. I certainly had to spend a lot more on the Gryphon to come up with an amp that was significantly better than the Sumo Gold.

I think amplifiers are constantly being improved. To say otherwise, is to argue that there is nothing left to invent in the field of amplifier design. 

What are some amps from twenty years ago that you think represent a good value?

I tried a Class D amp for a while when my Gryphon fell victim to either a huge power surge tied to a transformer explosion in Queens or a failure in one small part of the power supply, I'm just not sure which, but I'm thinking more and more it is the latter. 

The Class D amp replacement did absolutely nothing for me after listening to the Gryphon for nine months. Too bad, as I could have recouped a lot of money by selling the Gryphon.

I got beaten up pretty badly on some other forums about the Gryphon, with such comments as a $500 amp is as good as a $10k+ amp, yeah, right, only to find out that the people who were dismissing my amp had actually never heard or seen a Class A amp, lol. One guy had only seen a Class xHD amp, some kind of proprietary Class D amp. 

I guess I'm showing my age but I've decided to die on the Class A hill. I could care less about the additional heat, weight, and cost of electricity. For emotional involvement in the music, nothing does it for me like Class A. IMHO.

@larrykell I think there are a number of very competent ss amps from that period that present a good (great?) value today, among them are the fore mentioned Rowland amps, several from Mark Levinson, Symphonic line, Pass labs, the Coda amps and a few others.

I agree daveyf. Symphonic line makes fine amps, and even an older one would hold its own today.

Another huge applause for Symphonic Line.  I had read about this product over the years but rarely saw any for sale to audition.  Finally that option came my way.  I got a killer deal on their smallest amp, the RG11 two years ago.  I think it was one of the earliest versions....maybe from the mid-late 1990s, but in immaculate condition, and a beautiful polished chrome faceplate.  It was just to be an amp for for surround speakers but it stunned me how this silly thing drove the big SoundLab A1 speakers.  How could this be possible!  And the clarity/detail was phenomenal.  I just shook my head.  What a most beautiful sounding amp.  And then I tried it on Sonus Faber Amati Futura, and it did pretty well with these difficult speakers.  This small amp was so far beyond Belles mono amps and the Odyssey Khartago amp in power drive without making any unique sonic statement.

I have since bought the RG1 amp, one level above the RG11, also with the beautiful chrome faceplate, and this amp with the SF speakers is stunning.  I run the Sound Lab speakers with BAT VK600SE amps and the result is a great match, but I would love so much to try a stereo Symphonic Line Kraft or mono amps, even from a decade ago.  So difficult to find!