"Bruce J. Richman" wrote in message
news:IBxtc.1542$IB.25@attbi_s04...

Those in a better position to answer this question re. reliability would
be,
manufacturers who have been selling both types of amplifiers for years -
e.g.
Conrad Johnson or Audio Research. Or perhaps audio dealers who have been
selling both types of amplifiers over a length of time.
In their experience, is there a significant difference in the relative
%age of
service requests as a function of sales volume?
That is the type of data I'd be looking at, along with a given
manufacturer's
reputation, rather than relying on generalizations based on a given bias
(no
pun intended) for one class of products or the other.


I had a pair of Audio Research D76As which ran heavy duty for about 18 years
driving the tweeters of Tympani 1-Cs with the original four (GE) 6550 tubes
in place, ditto for the rest (Amperex, '70s vintage). I sent one of the amps
to ARC for service because I felt it was "spitting" too loudly. ARC sent it
back saying it was running according to spec and did zip to it. I had to
unload them because they weren't able to drive 3/4 ohm Tympanis. I chose
those amps because of their supposed synergy with Maggies in the years
before I knew better.