aardvark, I must say I think you have nailed it "all men are equal except some are more equal than others". Trumpism at work
When I first had my overheating problem I got hold of Ayre and they were all over it wanted me to bypass the dealer, send the amps directly to them and would have had exceptional service and a fixed amp within a week. As soon as they heard I was in Australia it was like "tough, we're out of here talk to your dealer". My dealer took 2 month to do the upgrade, blamed Ayre for sending them an incomplete parts set....how hard is it to send a single PCB??? For the price, components $1000.00 R&D $14,000.00.
However...I managed to get the amps running this morning, the faulty one heats up much quicker than the other one and gets hotter, but running for some 4 hours now, and as long as I leave it "on" position all seems OK. Difficult to compare the sound to the original because it has been over 2 months between listens..... but the sound is brilliant, these amps seem to do all I want, delicate detailed fast highs, controlled bass, and a midrange that is just perfect.
Currently listening to Aerial Boundaries recorded from vinyl in DSD on my Korg MR 2000, from Atlas/4 Point/Master Solution/AudiaFlight...Windham Hill did amazing stuff.
Are you in RSA?