How does the Phase Linear 400 compare?

Correction:  That TAS article was not titled, "ten BEST amplifiers of all time", but rather, 'The Ten Most SIGNIFICANT Amplifiers of All Time'.    Most contributors that included Phase Linear in their list, did so(and said so) based on the fact that they had the highest output power of their time. Carver paved the way for high output/low distortion figure, SS amps, about the same time that low-efficiency speakers(ie: Air Suspension) hit the market.  THAT'S what made them, "significant", to the audio industry.  They were great for our electronics repair and speaker reconing business, in Orlando, FL.  We(in that industry) affectionately referred to the 400 and 700 as, "Flame Linear" amps(for good reason).     They made us a LOT of money!    There are many out there that still like the old SS sound.   As long as YOU'RE enjoying your system, that's all that matters.

Was great 40 yrs ago not so much now.

Dinosaurs like the PL400 and 700 are fun to look at and (for some) to reminisce about, but sonically they cannot hold a candle to a $50 TPA3250 from our day. 

They can, however, deliver more slam but it'll be painful to experience and you'd have to find one that's still working.  A fool's errand imho.

transco,

If you are ever in Suburbs of Chicago, look me up.  I’ll play my Phase Linear 400, through my marantz 7, and you can compare it to my Krell KSA 50 and newly acquired McIntosh mc-7300.  

The Phase 400 is incredibly smooth and transparent.  

There is a lot of ‘Dinosaur’ gear out there that is in high demand.  In fact many (myself included) feel that some of the finest sounding gear ever came out of the sixties and  seventies.  

I was was a studio musician for years, I know what instruments are suppose to sound like, and to me the Dinosaurs do just fine.

I had a 700B for a while and with the speakers I had, Heresy's and Large Advents. It did just fine or as well or better than most anything else available at the time. It certainly sounded better than the Crown DC 300. It was built as well as most electronics of the day. Really insane build quality did not come along until Mark Levinson and Krell broke the mold. Not even Marantz was using mil spec parts back then and their switches were just as crappy as everyone else. I drove the 700B with a Marantz 7C.