Life of amp internals

The heat equipment generates should help dry it out in the basement much like a damp chaser. I have some ss gear that has been operating 30 years. I would be more worried about power surges and swells taking the thing out.

Mark is right. Caps are the first to go. Although my McIntosh MC240 had caps that were 40 years old and it still worked but a complete overhaul made a huge difference. Everything else will should be fine much longer.

Arthur

Electrolytic caps have a half life of about 20 years- in that time about half of them will have failed. The transistor amp above that is 30 years old has a seriously degraded power supply; despite that the amp still plays although at reduced performance.

Transistors that are mounted on heatsinks face the danger of the heatsink compounds perishing, leaving the transistor unable to transfer all their heat to the heatsink. Its a Good Idea to remount the transistors with fresh materials about once every 15 years or so.

Corrosion and how well parts are sealed will determine how long the other parts in an amp will last but once you've gotten to 30 years or so all bets are off.