20 Year Old Amplifiers compared to 2017

@atmasphere,  thanks for your input —   That sounds like a plausible interpretation of what willemj  meant by his opening sentence. I’d be interested to hear Will weigh in here, especially if he meant something different.  As far as the second part of his statement (“exceeded human hearing acuity”), I would agree that is pretty subjective, as  evidenced by the many contrary opinions on this thread. 

interesting how the human ear and the ear/brain connection is so rarely mentioned in debates about the meaning of measurements...

imgoodwithtools
  20 Year Old Amplifiers compared to 2017

The now "40 YEARS OLD"
John Curl designed Mark Levinson ML-2 Monoblocks in good condition, will blow away most of today's Tube,Class-D and even most Solid State amps. 
At only!!! 25w Pure Class-A per channel into 8ohms,
It's said they will do 50w into 4ohm, 100w into 2ohm and 200w into 1ohm  

http://www.hifido.co.jp/photo/05/504/50446/c.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9uGHPSseR-w/U3aWYTrghsI/AAAAAAAB8yI/XxdvN_K7-jk/s1600/ML2a.JPG

https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i2/88221699/TB21ecDdFXXXXXNXXXXXXXXXXXX_!!88221699.jpg
  

Cheers George

With the exception of Class D and digital amps, I think that a 20-30yr old amp can sound as good as what is available today.  Class D and digital amps are relatively new, thus do not have vintage counterparts.

There is one caveat to the above- restoration.   A 20-30yr old amp may "work" in the sense that it passes an intelligible signal, it will likely not sound at its best.   A vintage amp should be fully serviced, with all caps replaced, and all resisters, wiring, diodes, rectifiers etc replaced as needed.  Only then can a valid comparison be made.

That said, a true high end amp from back in the day would be very competitive with a new amp of similar topology.   And at a cheaper price.

The original post specified SS amps.  I would expand this point to include tube amps.   Audio Research, Conrad Johnson and Luxman tube amps of 30yrs ago can also be restored to great effect and value.    I love the sound of my ARC V70....with new caps.    The HK Citation II, after rebuild, becomes a very compelling value in todays market.  And we all know about McIntosh, specifically the MC225, MC30, MC240, MC275.

I like a nice restored vintage component. I like working on them to a point. I've got issues with old gear though. 
First, folks ask WAY too much for it these days.
Second, condition and reliability are significant concerns. 
The third issue is repairs and restoration. 

Any 20 year old amp should at least be looked over and dialed in, if not completely recapped, especially if it's cap coupled. Getting that kind of work done is often not cheap. By the time you find a good example of something and put the money into getting it into good condition, has anything been saved? If somebody has a particular love affair with an amp then by all means restore and enjoy. If not, buy new. The field of amps has diversified in a variety of ways and I do think modern amps are better than older ones.