Mark Levinson with Vandersteens?

Little warm? Mark Levinson is too cool for sound. I owned the Nautilus 802N and 800Signature. Wenn these speakers were driven by ML and I played my classical cd's the sound realism was sooooo poor. A violin sounded in real so much more emotional. All the emotion was gone. I call this always a clini violin. The 400 and 500 series are better in sound than the series before. That is the only positive thing I can say about ML.

I've owned 2A Sigs and 3A Sigs. I've had very good luck with McCormack Amps with the SMc mods. My favorite amp for Vandys in MY system was a Belles 150A Reference. However, when I purchased the 3A Signatures, the owner was powering them with a Pass Labs amp (don't know which one) and it was the best I've ever heard Vandersteens sound.

Good luck in your search.

Wenn you look at the most important parts in highend audio. 3d holographic sound, sharp individual focus and a sound to die for Pass labs is so much more talented than ML ever will be.

Thanks all for your advice and input.

Settled on a demo Modwright KWA 100SE, which I had no real knowledge of at the time I originally posted.

I was concerned about the 100w being enough to drive the Treos, but after talking to Dan at ModWright, I pulled the trigger. The results so far have been spectacular in all the right ways, especially resolution, sound stage, bass articulation.

Thanks again.

Take a look at Belles. I've heard Belles 350A Reference amp hooked up to Vandersteen 3A Signatures and they sounded great. I have the Belles amp in my system but not the Vandersteens. It's reliable as hell and has a high damping factor which will control bass drivers to give nice deep bass. There are other Belles amps to consider but the 350 or 150 series won't cost an arm and a leg. The Belles amp isnt the hard cold clinical solid state type at all but it is a little dry sounding. I ameliorate the dryness by using a tubed preamp and tubes phono amp.