Freddy58 said:
but now I've spotted it, just wanted to say what a nice project! Seems like you've made a good job of this, well done I have to admit that I find the smaller dimensions of these amps not so aesthetically pleasing, but I can see the allure. I've never heard one of these, but they do seem to be held in high regard. If it were me and I'd done the work you have, I think I'd be loathed to part with them.
Edited for asking a dumbass question *blush*
lol, cheers Freddie. Yeah they're definitely keepers now. Even if just from the perspective that it's financially unviable to sell them.
I put my hand deep in my pocket and shelled-out £193 for everything on his options list except the replacement of the reservoir capacitors, which fair credit to the guy he said were working 100% correctly so didn't need replacing, especially since I use a PSX which essentially replaces them. I hold him in high regard even just for that alone, because he could easily have shafted me the price and labour cost of replacing them and I wouldn't have known to query his judgement.
All-in i've invested £313 including the £120 purchase price, which was a steal but my colleague initially wanted less and was more than satisfied that I offered him a higher price than he wanted. I wasn't proactively looking for a new amp even though I'd put a few feelers out on this forum just to get ideas, but now I feel I've got a setup that could only be substantially bettered by new kit that costs more than I could realistically afford, so these are very happy days really, at least from a hifi perspective.