Best monoblock tubes amp with Vandersteen 5As

For sure you must try the ASL Hurricanes or VTL's 450's.

And for a little different sound..VAC 70/70.

As a dedicated Tenor Audio Pusher, and lover of the product, I can tell you that at CES last year, I lent a pair of Tenor OTL's to Richard to use with his 5A's in his room. It was easily the best sound I have heard out of the Vandersteen's. I have a number of customers using this combo and they have never been happier. The speaker is very OTL friendly.

This would be a very interesting question to pose to Richard.

You can get away with a less powerful of a tube amplifier since they use a high pass filter between the amp/preamp. Because of this, the amplifier is almmost entirely freed of supplying power for bass. A few years back I got along just fine with a 100 watt ARC vt100 mark II amplifier. No shortage of power whatsoever.

I've heard that John Rutan at Audio Connection runs the 5's with the Ayre V-1 or the Rogue Zeus. www.audioconnect.com He's been a Vandersteen dealer since the beginning of time and knows them very well. He's helped me with my Vandersteens quite a few times. I've heard Quicksilver V4's are also a great match.

Disclaimer: I am a Rogue dealer.

John Ruttan also used the huge and expensive Cary monoblocks with them (can't remember the model, but it was the $40K ones with the huge transmitter tube) to good effect in the past.

Rogue Zeus is the ultimate, but Rogue 120 monoblocks will drive 5As well and easily. They have powerful tubes.