solid state power amps, golden oldies

Nikko amps,
AudioResearch D100,
Nakamichi PA100...

Threshold S/series and the Forte Model #4 would be at your cutoff point

One amp manufacturer is not here - B&K Components - they made great amps during this time period. The ST-140 was probably their biggest seller and was rated as one of the ten best buys in Audio according to HiFi Heretic magazine. I had one and also the EX-442 but I had the Sonata version which came out in 91 I believe. That was a great sounding amp, but there are many others too. Aragon, Forte, Sonographe, Superphon are all great too

I'm not so sure the oldies were "golden".
especially when you hear a high quality tube amp of recent yrs.
Could never go back to ss after i know a good tube.
btw I bought a used Marantz 250 last summer, was going to use it for bass supply on dual amping.
gawd aweful super duper grainy sound. Can't believe I use to love that sound in 1970's. YUCKKK

A nice little system I had in the 80's included PSE's Series 5 mono amps. Nice sounding amps for right around $2k. I don't think they're in biz anymore....could be wrong.