Best Tube Amp under 5K

Audio Research VT100 MkII are going for under $3000 and this might be better than the MkIII. There is some question about this.

Atma-Sphere M60 Mk-II

Hello Herb, Might I suggest a used pair of BAT vk60 mono amps. Good luck in your search and thanks for keeping jazz alive! Regards, Tom

I went through the Rogues to the EAR 534 and now have the
Mcintosh 2102 - it is great - the 534 is great too and very much low maintenance - The retails on bothe of these are 3800 for the balanced EAR in chrome to 6k for the Mcintosh .
Both can be had on the used end for 2500 - 4700. You would be pleased with either and I am sure the above selections are very good also. That is what makes this so fun and sometimes frustrating. Tubes are just fun.

There are a pair of Sonic Frontiers Power 3 available on Audiogon for $3,500. This looks like a very good deal. I don't think you can get more power for the money - 220wpc. I haven't heard them myself, but they're Stereophile Class A (If that really means anything :-) I hear that they're neutral, transparent, very detailed, and have more of a controlled solid state sound than the lush tubey sound one might expect from tube amps. At this price they look like a deal - should keep their value well. Good luck.
Outlier