Phase Linear

We used to call them "Flames Linear" in the biz cause they blew up so often. Unstable would be a kind term for what they became when pushed. Brute force, not terribly musical.

well let's have a little balance in this discussion - the "Flame Linear" reputation came I believe from the fact they were used and abused in stacks for rock band performances, and they couldn't drive low impedance loads (ie <4ohms). My 400 performed very nicely from 1974 until I sold it in 2004. I drove it hard, especially in college. I didn't spend a dime on service and I sold it for $375 which is $25 more than I paid for it ('course not the same $'s). I have friends and relative who had the same experience. My brother still uses his.

very old amps & yes they were designed by bob carver,having owned carver & phase linear my thoughts were that both brands sounded terrible & could be bested very easily by rotel or adcom.

Bigjoe, I`m surprised the old autoformers don`t sound terrible to you.

I bought a Phase Linear 400 in the '70s when I was sixteen. It was very powerful. Then, it went up in flames--literally. A tech at a local stereo store replaced all the output transistors with ones of better quality. He said he put a lot of work in on it to make it "more stable". I have no idea what he did, but the amp worked great for years after that. When I hit my twenties and moved on, I sold it--to a sixteen year old.