Richard, the Crown amps are reliable, it's just the IT side of things that's a bit flaky. If one fails you can still use it as a straight analogue amp, but at 3 grand a chuck that's hardly the point, I reckon!

As for the good old DC300A, we've got four of those about to go up for auction on eBay (local collection only). Terrific amps, the first 'official' 1k amp, which can drive into a short circuit without any harm, as they were originally developed to operate doors on a submarine!! They deliver 500w per channel into 2 ohms, 300w into 4 ohms (hence the name).

They had an unfortunate habit of falling apart if used for touring, but I did some mods to ours many years ago to make them more rugged. I also added a couple of neon indicators on the front panel, one to show 'mains on' and the other to show the mains fuse had failed - very simple, put the neon across the fuse and it lights when the fuse blows, but it won't carry any current. Hence neons, not LEDs!

I think one is faulty (gone DC), so will have to check it out, but I'll be starting the bidding at 25 quid... if anyone's interested I can PM you when they're up, or make an offer and bypass eBay!