Vandersteen's new affordable mono blocks at the CES 18

great music choice!!!  Thanks for sharing thoughts on your amps.  They really are special. I owned PSE for a spell, but needed to make a change adn the money was right, lol. I didn't realize Dean's masterful pedigree.  I can't wait to get a pair in my room to listen to them.  Smart move on their part to also have a 20hz crossover so that it's basically a full range amp that anyone can use since hardly any speakers go lower than 20hz and if your's do, I"m sure that you will be using amps at 30k or more most of the time.

I like the look too.  

I’m interested in anyone’s long term opinions of running the Vandersteen M5-HPA’s with the 5A Carbons, especially, or the other high passed models. Are they significantly better in this application than any other amplifier, tube or solid state?

Thanks for asking.  No time to answer right now, but I will in a few.  

Ok, I have a moment. I have not had enough time to listen vs other amps.  I do know that those who have auditioned them love them.  They are voiced for the speaker.  It's Richards way of basically making a fully active system.  Teh amp itself sounds great running full speed on other speakers.  I know of a few folks who like them better than many of the 25k plus amps on their 5's and Quatro's and they auditioned most of the contenders which are awesome amps that I'd die to own.  

They will not sound 'fast' or 'highly detailed' like many amps do.  Not saying they aren't these things, but they are on the slightly warmer side of the equation compared to some amps that folks feel are 'high end' amps.  I like a bit of meat on the bones personally.  

My personal thought is that there are plenty of great amps on the market.  Your pre is going to be HUGE in the equation.  That's probably more important than the amp is.  I am hoping to hear the KXR pre amp with a pair of Richards amps as I bet that would be a killer set up. I know they play GREAT with the AR preamps (which I also love) as well as Aesthtix's preamps (a true Best Buy in high end audio for MY money).

I have spoken to a few dealers who sell them and feel they are an outstanding value for a true high end set of mono's.  Richard is a serious designer and the person he brought in with him to collaborate with him is the same one who helped with his big amps.  Those amps, for my money, are KILLER amps in their own right.

I'm hoping to get a longer audition.  Do you have the 5CT's? What are you running now?

I’m running my 5A Carbons with a set of Pass XA 60.8s and a Pass XP-22. The latter is quite neutral, I think, and certainly the best preamp I’ve heard. The amps are very good or great, I’m not sure. I suppose it depends on the setup. One thing I’m not looking for is more warmth, as I think I have a tad too much of that, especially in my smallish room. I would kill for a way to directly tame the midrange on the speaker. I do have an excellent solution on my digital chain, because I have a Roon setup, with some curves that drop the midrange at the crossover points by 1,2, or 3 dB, depending on my preference. But that leaves my analog setup at the mercy of my cartridge loading, which is imprecise. The bottom line is that I feel strongly that the 5As needs lots of room width and height to breathe. Their more revealing midrange over the Quatro CTs is both good and bad, again depending on the recording. So, with all that said, if there’s a chance that my amps aren’t quite the right match, then I want to check out the M5-HPA’s,