amp for vandersteens

Second the post above - Audio Research tube amp should be strongly considered.  Buy the best newest one you can afford.  Older ones are fine too if you are on a tight budget.  Vandy's need a little 'waking up' in my experience as they are voiced on the smoother side of the spectrum.  ARC amps will give you the tube magic but don't roll off much at the high end.

I had incredible success driving a pair with a Theta Dreadnaught 1 vertically biamped.  It’ll be hard to find the pig-tailed cabling to do this now.   I don’t think you can go wrong with Ayre, Theta Dreadnaught (First gen only), Quicksilver, McCormack etc.  
I currently drive my 5A’s with a pair of Theta Citadel 1.5’s and love them.  

Buy an old Counterpoint SA-100 that can always be upgraded to sound fantastic.  In stock form I used one to power my Vandersteen model 5s.  The sound blew most people away.  Used one just sold on ebay for $210.

Happy Listening.

Mccormick DNA-1, rebuilt by SMC Audio, works well with the cloth Quatro. Really well.

I’ve ran my 2CE Sigs with an old original B&K 125.2, with about 135 wpc, and it was a great match. But, I wanted more, and found a vintage Belles 400A with 200 wpc that is as wonderful as the B&K sonically but with a lot more power and ‘grunt’. You won’t find a 400A easily, but you can still find a good 150A, or more modern Belles. As Tomic stated, look for high dampening factor.


I had always heard Belles and Vandy’s went together well, and that is why I sought one out. Ayre has also always been positively mention with all things Vandersteen.


But, listen to the recommendations by JohnnyR and Tomic. Both have a lot of experience with Vandersteen’s of all shapes and sizes.