Amplifier's age

I agree with jmcgrogan2,, Its not broke,sounds great, who cares whats better,how much better is the question, you would have to spend alot more now days to get better if you have a very good amp already!,, and on the bright side of things if the amp you have is very,very good, when you do buy another amp, keep the old one, a collecter may give you alot of money for it! cheers!

Most of my stereo equipment is 10-20 years old. The only components that I've had break on me were bought new, and thankfully under factory warranty. Getting them repaired in a timely manner is another story...

A 15-20 year old amp should be completely gone over and overhauled imo. Even if it sounds great, it will benefit and sound noticeably better afterward provided you find the right tech which is rare. If his heart's not in it, you likely won't notice anything. If it is, he will have chosen parts very specifically in order to improve and not just maintain it. Well worth the average $400.00 in that case.

Digpix, many of our EE techie members have spoken about aging electronic components numerous times on the Forum. Csontos is right on with his comments.

Certain components degrade over time -- period. Even if a component hasn't failed, it may have drifted from its intended value with age. You didn't mention the amp you had in mind. If the company is still around, you might be able to send it back to the factory for an overhaul.

I own some 30-40 year old Crown amps. Sent both back to the factory. You'd be surprised how many little "this's and that's" were replaced. The cost was very reasonable. The Crown folks explained that there were still some "old head" techs around who knew the old gear like the back of their hands. That's the reason for the quick and reasonably priced overhaul.

Just a suggestion.

One issue on the solid state side is the availability of replacement transistors. Some very good amps used transistors that are becoming or have become unobtainable. However, even with that, if the amp is that good, you could always look for a used/broken one to part out.

The other thing I think about is the precariousness of the "one guy shop" that a lot of our great sounding equipment comes from. Since there is often no succession planning, if something happens to the "one guy" the company may cease to exist. The gang of folks that got into the business of designing/manufacturing high end audio in the 70's, 80's and earlier is starting to get pretty long in the tooth, so when purchasing older amps a consideration is whether there will be anyone around to repair it if needed. Since most of my equipment comes from "one guy" shops, I can only hope that there will be competent technicians available to repair the equipment as long as parts are available. Of course, the other option is to make sure the "one guy" is younger than you are :>}