Parasound JC-1 - How old is too old?

I checked with McIntosh before I bought my used components and was told 20 years, unless they are bulging or leaking, then immediately.  Not sure for other brands.

Yes, that is part of my concern, particularly if the amps were used inside a cabinet which did not provide adequate ventilation. No way to know on a used amp. 

I owned a Krell FPB-300 (which also ran warm) that I had recapped when it was about 10 years old (only because it was in for service for a broken speaker connector) and it started giving me problems after another 10 years. The cost of repair at that point was prohibitive so I traded it in to a dealer that wanted it for parts. According to a dealer I talked with, failing caps was not uncommon with this series of amp.

Since the JC-1 has been around for 16 years now, I'm worried that an older pair is probably close to being in need of repair even if it was treated well its whole life.

But I'd like to hear from folks that own older units to understand what their experience has been.

I have a pair of JC 1s which are now driving my subwoofers. I used them on my ESLs for many years and I can tell you that there are very few amps that perform as well and the ones that do cost way more. They may go down as the amplifier value of the century.  No JC 1 is old enough to need new capacitors at this time unless the amp was damaged. As long as the amps are running as advertised and there is no evidence of physical damage you should be good to go. They are built extremely well and use extremely high quality output devices. The thermal cut off is set pretty low so there is no way they can be damaged by heat. They would just shut themselves off and flash a red light at you. I see no reason why a JC 1 should not run reliably for 30-40 years maybe more. 
Sound wise these amps have an airy effortless like a high powered tube amp but the fist of a high powered solid state amp. God knows how John Curl does this. I'd love to hear some of his Constellation designs. Of all the amps I have been able to hear in my system only Pass amps have that airy effortlessness that I find intoxicating. The JC 1 has phenomenal
(better) bass which is why they wound up on the subs and boy do they do a honking job of it. Unless you are use to hearing high powered Pass, CH, Boulder, Soulution, or Moon amps these things will absolutely blow you away. 

Mike

Jaylor, as I said above these amps can not overheat. If someone was silly enough to put them inside a cabinet they would just keep shutting themselves off. I had a pair of Krell KMA 100s which was made with output devices not near as sophisticated as the ones used in the JC 1 and they lasted 23 years before blowing an output stage. I would have no trouble buying a 16 year old pair if the price was right. 

@mijostyn Thanks for your comments. That's very helpful. How old are the JC-1's you are using?