Best Amp for Vandy 3A's under 3000 Used?

I've had a few combinations with my 3A Sigs. and find my current set-up very satisfying. The preamp is a Sonic Frontiers Line 2 Special Edition and the amp is the Bel Canto 200.2. I've had much larger amps and was worried that the BC, with 125 watts per side, wasn't going to give me the bass drive that I had before. However, my worries were unfounded as the BC handles bass on the Sigs very nicely. A plus for the BC is that it is small and does not generate any heat. Also, the BCs convert to mono amps very successfully, if you want to add a second one at some point.

The SF tube pre, while being very neutral, gives that little bit of magic that I don't find in an all solid state system. Good luck on your search. If you can find these pieces used, they should come in around your $3k target (maybe a little over).

I would suggest a higher powered tube amp, at least 90wpc or higher. The Quicksilver Silver 90's or a newer equivalent with an Audible Illusions Preamp would probably work well.

I am currently using a Bryston 4B-ST with my Vandy 3A Signatures, and am very pleased with the combination. I have read that Richard Vandersteen likes to use McCormack amps with the 3A Sig's and the Model 5.

I'd suggest a McCormack DNA-1 or 1DLX amp, and Sonic Frontiers Line 2 pre-amp. You could up-grade the McCormack later if you felt the need for "more". This combo is great with the 3As. Cheers. Craig

These are some good recomendations but the best thing you can do to make your amp choice simple(this may seem off subject, but wait)is to buy a Vandersteen sub(the amp is in the woofer!) for your 3's(if you want a second opinion go to www.audioperfectionist.com and read Issue#2) then any good ARC,Conrad Johnson, or VTL combo providing the amp has an input impedence of 100k(most of the amps I list do) you don't need as big an amp. 50 watts might suprise the hell out of you(remember the woofer has it's own 300 watt amp and bass is what sucks the juice!). I am running this sort of set up with 2Ce's which are 1db less efficent than 3's with a 50 watt ARC amp and an ARC pre and the sound is OUTSTANDING(and plays quite loud I might add). you can easly get this in your 3K budget too!the subs go for under a grand used, and you have a wonderful number of good amp and pre combos you could buy for 2K. HUmm I'm an ARC guy but I saw a CJ Premier 3 for sale a few days ago for under a grand, put that together with a CJ MV55 or similar? You will not be able to beat it for the cash!