[HAHAHA! I had to break my first post into two posts because I discovered a 12,000 character post limit!]
Again, still not ruling out a modded Au-999, but a unit hasn't fallen into my path lately.
And the latest contender, an AU-9900A just arrived on my doorstep (and I have an AU-9900 on the way). Checking out status of that unit now! I had read that people think it might be warmer sounding than the AU-11000. And the 9900 is basically the same unit but running at lower power, which could have better long term reliability (?). Anyway, will report very soon... it's on the bench now doing essential checks and rebias before hookup.
Am also interested in the AU-717 based on high opinions of Hyperion and others.
More rambling to come.... consider yourself warned. One day the rebuilt AU-777A will be dethroned. I apologize for the no doubt numerous typos as I'm just typing these thoughts quickly. These are the thoughts i might usually keep to myself and there is no hard science (I try to stick to quantifiable facts where possible and thought about doing a similar thread with full measurements... but I aint got the time for that), but I thought someone else might get a kick out of my 'process'.