Balanced amp for Bat vk5i...

Sorry about not getting back to this until now. Thanks for all the advice! I like Bat and I'll probably end up with a vk51se preamp someday, but I'm not brave enough for a tube amp and Bat's solid state amps are very good- but not great...just my opinion. That leaves me with Plinius and Mark Levinson... I'm stuck between the Plinius sa250 mkIV and the Mark Levinson 336. I've been researching both. How is the dependability of both these amps? Also, how hot does the Mark Levinson 336 get?

Thanks for all the responses. Larryken-yes, I'm using nos tubes in my preamp-click on my system to see. They made a tremendous difference in sound. More dynamics, detail, clarity... almost like a component upgrade. Eldo1968- How hot does your amp get? Does running class A reduce the longevity of an amp? Beemer-How hot does the ML336 run? How's the dependability of the 336? Thanks again all! Stan