Back in the early 1990s I had the following setup:
- Thorens TD160C/TP16/AT410
- Rotel RCD965BX CDP
- Audiolab 8000A integrated
- Tannoy 613 floorstanders
The Audiolab was stolen during an interrupted burglary and was not replaceable as the local distributors had shut their doors, so replaced it with a Pioneer A400 (not the 'x' version) and passed that whole system down to elder daughter (except the TD160C which she didn't need). She still has that same system some 12 years later and loves it.
The 8000A was a black late model (F-series) and was equipped with gold-plated RCA sockets on the rear panel. The A400 was licked up second hand from my pet dealer who had taken it as a trade-in on a Linn Intek. (A few days later the customer who had bought the Intek went back to the dealer wanting to buy back the A400... Go figure...)
The phono stage on the 8000A was actually quite a good one.
The 8000A tended to be somewhat clinical and detailed, whereas the A400 seemed a bit more musically involving, but without the etched musical picture presented by the 8000A. Both amps were quite capable of driving the Tannoys to high levels with no sign of stress.
The build quality of both amps was good, but with the 8000A edging out the A400 by a small margin
In summary, both are good amps from that period and share decent build quality - their relative sonic portrayals are good and the differences noted above are noticeable but not that significant.
Whichever you decide upon, you may well want to consider having the amplifier you buy put through a 'refurbishment' process to replace key components (e.g. capacitors) to realise the potential of the amp.
Happy hunting...