amp for vandersteens

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.

Just finished building a pair of El-34 Class A mono blocks used on my Vandersteen 5As - magical!

Happy Listening.