@ Ryan: Yes, there is ONE person who doesn't like them, doesn't own them and won't ever own them (I compared! But anyways, I could send over a lot more people speaking of exactly the same problems I do, but most of them aren't interested in international, not to say English, forums). You say you can't afford to carry spare amps, so you didn't buy ITechs. Have you ever tried ITechs yourself and had them failing? Guess not, but you heard about it. I SAW multiple blown Vortexs, all from ONE SINGLE event, on the repair desk at a known company here in Germany, and I know what happened to them. It was no wrong handling and the mains were good also (none of the more 'line' sensitive gear crashed there). And of course this wasn't the only time I saw defective Vortexes, and I HEARD about much much more. Will that happen if you get a demo amp which you will test carefully? Certainly not. But now you heard about Vortexs going up into smoke. Will you start carrying spare Vortexs? I don't think so. You will have to let one burn during an event until you think about that. Don't forget that Crown ITechs are far more spread in the USA than Camco Vortex. If you hear about 15 ITechs shutting down it sounds worse than 1 Vortex shutting down, but in fact it's a similar ratio, if not worse!
While we are at anecdotal evidence, anyone ever heard of a LAB Gruppen burning?
@ Lester: Ryan is right in that point. Get a demo unit, but DON'T forget to do plenty of AB comparisons. Don't forget to do some comparisons on bad main lines and generators too, because there won't be always premium power available, right? And of course, every company that wants to sell mps will give you a demo unit. If you're looking for lightweight, don't forget LAB Gruppen, PowerSoft......
The Vortex is an really good sounding amp in mids and highs, I won't deny that.