Most reliable audio amplifiers?

[DYohn]

I have never owned an amplifier with longevity issues. There is no reason to suspect any amp will have such issues. Tube amps will eventually need tube replacements, but even that is after many years of service.

Someone said Emotiva amps require capacitor replacement. Where is the evidence for that? Maybe after MANY years a power supply cap might go bad, but there is no reason to suspect that to be the case with Emotiva more than with any other solid state amp. In fact I have only ever owned one amp that needed a cap replacement and that was a Phase Linear amp from the late 60's after more than 25 years of use. Speculation about Emotiva amps or other amps "needing caps" sounds like pure hyperbole to me.

Of course as with any consumer product there will be stories of an individual unit failing. But that's meaningless to brand reliability. Stop worrying about life expectancy and buy what you want to buy/can afford. Simple.

[DYohn]

Sept 25, 2020 13:41:13 GMT -5 KeithL said:

Interesting...

I would have to agree that, in terms of pure longevity, the award should almost certainly still go to McIntosh.

They've always been built like tanks... and tend to last forever.

And they have awesome resale value (at least most models - with a few exceptions).

I also has a McIntosh tuner some time ago that was probably the best-sounding FM tuner I've ever owned.

It was also far and away the most expensive - even though I purchased it used.

I sold it when it became apparent that there was nothing I wanted to listen to on FM.... and got back about what I paid for it.

However, to be quite honest, I have never been especially impressed with how McIntosh amplifiers sounded. 

I'm not saying that they sound in any way... bad.

I've just always found them to sound somewhat short of neutral - usually tending toward the warm or soft side of the spectrum.

And, if you don't know me, you can tell from the way I phrased that... I think an ideal amp should sound perfectly neutral.

I've only ever owned one Bryston amp.. and I've never owned a McIntosh amp... although I've heard plenty of both.

I've thought that the Bryston amps I've heard generally sounded cleaner and more neutral than the McIntosh amps.

(And I think our XPA amps... all the way back to Gen1... also sounded a bit cleaner and more neutral as well.)

Sept 25, 2020 13:10:44 GMT -5 DYohn said:

In my opinion there are far more important things in audio than longevity, but to each his own. If my choices were Bryston or McIntosh there is no question I'd buy McIntosh.

Yes, My preference is exactly that: preference. I prefer the warmer colored sound of McIntosh over the more clinical sound of Bryston (or Emotiva.) Nothing to do with reliability and everything to do with how it sounds.