Top vintage receivers vs. modern high-end equipment

I've serviced a bit of vintage gear and one thing I've noticed is that quite often if you really want the solid state stuff to work properly its going to cost a lot to make it happen- often more than tube gear. This is because there are a lot more electrolytic caps in both the power supplies and the signal path and in addition to that, the semiconductors often don't meet spec anymore due to corrosion.


I'd not realized until recently how insidious that last bit is- semiconductors gradually lose their Hfe (gain transconductance) and can become noisy or spitty. These days finding subs that actually work in the design can be challenging as there are so many counterfeits on ebay and the like.  A few days ago I had an amp that only made about 1/2 power before clipping- but it was caused by voltage and driver transistors simply having degraded to the point that the amp didn't have enough gain for the feedback to work properly at full power. This was after I had literally replaced all the electrolytics in sight. That amp was allegedly working when purchased! Yet it turned out the repairs were far more than the amp was worth fully rebuilt.


So (counter-intuitively)  its actually easier to properly refurbish tube equipment as a result.

New products especially solid state 
are much better then old technology receivers ,transistors, resistors,power supplies have much lower distortions 
due to modern advancement in technologies, and much tighter lower distortion levels.

Guys I'm desperately trying to make the best choice of the receiver from the 70s for heavy metal and rock especially. I love the raw detailed sound and more high sound. 

—Sharp Optonica sm 3000 and higher
—Pioneer SA-9900
—Kenwood- ka 9100
—Sansui au 9900
—Yamaha b2 and c2 preamp 

also what can u say about Revox? 

Can u add or suggest something? I'm using acoustic JBL 4312, Pioneer s922

Still looking?

Well I've been dabbling in the same thing the last few months. 

My recommendation if you want top sound quality is a Sansui professional series from the late 70's 

AU11000, AU20000,AU30000. recapped these are as good or better then pretty much anything below $6k in a modern amp. and they have way more features then modern amps generally do. well no DAC-streaming of course.
very attractive looking love the rose sides, tops and black face but all the knobs are silver, and very well built. 
https://audio-database.com/SANSUI/amp/au-20000-e.html


I've started a build on the professional series separates CA 2000 and BA ???? (anyone have an amp they want to part with).