Amps Being Used with Vandersteen 5As

dminches · « **on:** 28 Dec 2011, 02:24 am »

What amps are people using (and enjoying) with their 5As? I am currently using a Modwright KWA-150 SE but am always open to other alternatives. The Modwright amp is 150 WPC which is enough power but I could advantages of more.

jeffreybehr · « **Reply #1 on:** 28 Dec 2011, 04:17 am »

I'm using Marantz MA-24s, four of them, biamping the speakers. They're rated at 30 into 8 and 60 into 4, so into the 5A's 4-to-6-Ohm impedance, the 2 amps have about 100 (max.) Watts. The MA-24s are the premium poweramps in Marantz's 1991 MusicLink series... http://www.dutchaudioclassics.nl/Marantz_MA-24_Music_Link_power_amplifier/

They're biased full Class-A for all stages, use MOSFET output transistors, and they sound EXCELLENT to this nongolden-eared audiofool.

Predecessors included a pair of Monarchy SE-160s, with 160W. into 8 and 320 into 4, Class-A biased to c. 50 Watts, MOSFET outputs, 12AT7 frontend, etc. They too sounded very good and a tad warmer than the '24s; and a pair of Atma-Sphere M-60s, 60-Watt, OTL, tubed (all-triode) monoamps. Don't know why, but I just didn't fall in love with them in spite of my general love for things vacuumtubed.

sunnydaze · « **Reply #2 on:** 28 Dec 2011, 02:37 pm »

At a dealers years ago heard the original 5 (not 5A) with a pair of Quicksilver V-4 monos. Sounded mighty fine to me.

nrenter · « **Reply #3 on:** 28 Dec 2011, 04:25 pm »

Quote from: jeffreybehr on 28 Dec 2011, 04:17 am

They're rated at 30 into 8 and 60 into 4, so into the 5A's 4-to-6-Ohm impedance, the 2 amps have about 100 (max.) Watts.

Power doesn't sum that way in a bi-amp'ed configuration. Given the stated specs of your amps, you're driving your speakers with about 50 Watts (even though you're using (2) 50-Watt amps on each speaker). I think Vandersteen comments on this somewhere in their Q&A section.

zybar · « **Reply #4 on:** 28 Dec 2011, 05:12 pm »

I use Atma-Sphere MA-1's coupled with Speltz Zeros.

I LOVE what tubes sound like on the 5A's.

George

dminches · « **Reply #5 on:** 28 Dec 2011, 11:21 pm »

Has anyone listened to the 5As with a Bryston 14B-SST2? I am considering that amp.

darthlaker · « **Reply #6 on:** 29 Dec 2011, 08:58 am »

I am using Ayre MX-R monoblocks paired with an Ayre KX-R pre-amp...sublime!

dminches · « **Reply #7 on:** 29 Dec 2011, 01:39 pm »

Very nice setup. I am sure it sounds wonderful.

darthlaker · « **Reply #8 on:** 30 Dec 2011, 01:38 am »

Thanks dm.

I do love the sound and get a lot of endless enjoyment out of it....

dminches · « **Reply #9 on:** 30 Dec 2011, 12:45 pm »

Here is my current 5A setup:

darthlaker · « **Reply #10 on:** 30 Dec 2011, 01:04 pm »

VERY nice!

Love the 5A's in black as well.....

Not sure if I would change your amps...I am sure they do the job just fine...

etcarroll · « **Reply #11 on:** 30 Dec 2011, 04:18 pm »

Quote from: dminches on 28 Dec 2011, 11:21 pm

Has anyone listened to the 5As with a Bryston 14B-SST2? I am considering that amp.

I'd like to do the same.

dminches · « **Reply #12 on:** 15 Jan 2012, 05:58 pm »

I am currently auditioning a pair of Cary 500.1 mono blocks with my 5As. They sound excellent. I will listen to them for another day or so and then switch back to the Modwright and try to compare.

Ian Lochridge · « **Reply #13 on:** 21 Jan 2012, 03:52 pm »

Been using Pass Labs XA100.5s driven by XP-20 for the last year or so. Seems to do the 5As justice.

jeffreybehr · « **Reply #14 on:** 22 Feb 2012, 01:04 am »

Have given up trying to drive 5As with multiple low-power amps. Both combinations of 4 times 30-into-8 Marantz MA-24s and 4 times 25-into-8 FirstWatt F4s clipped, sounding raspy and VERY unpleasant, too often with the 5As.

Have on their way today a pair of McCormack DNA-750s, with 650 watts each into 8 and a KW each into 4. We'll see...or hear.

zybar · « **Reply #15 on:** 22 Feb 2012, 01:06 am »

Quote from: jeffreybehr on 22 Feb 2012, 01:04 am

Have given up trying to drive 5As with multiple low-power amps. Both combinations of 4 times 30-into-8 Marantz MA-24s and 4 times 25-into-8 FirstWatt F4s clipped, sounding raspy and VERY unpleasant, too often with the 5As.

Have on their way today a pair of McCormack DNA-750s, with 650 watts each into 8 and a KW each into 4. We'll see...or hear.

Good luck!

I know that the DNA-500 sounded good, but not great with the 5A's.

George

taam · « **Reply #16 on:** 22 Feb 2012, 08:02 pm »

I love my vintage Threshold with Vandersteen speakers. Just food for thought. I would like to try Pass Labs stuff but that out of my price range at this point in my life. Something to work toward I suppose.
taam

dmatt · « **Reply #17 on:** 22 Feb 2012, 09:41 pm »

Like Ian,

I use a pair of Pass XA-100.5 but I run them with a ModWright LS-36.5 DM. I moved up from a pair of XA-60.5 that went out of class A a little too often for my liking. Now the meters on the amps rarely move.

dminches, darthlaker, jeffreybehr, and of course zybar - nice set-ups and rooms!

David

jeffreybehr · « **Reply #18 on:** 28 Feb 2012, 01:26 am »

They're warming, and soon we'll know if they'll play music.

-------------------------------

Have sort-of-jury-rigged the hi-pass caps required by the V'steens, and the system is running again.

The '750s do indeed play music, and very nicely, too, with the 5Bs. I'm no quick-hearing golden-eared audiofile, but the high-frequency harmonics of violins, for instance, seem a little smoother, and the piano that always sounded a little harsh occasionally in a favorite Opus 3 CD sounds a tad less harsh. More later.

jeffreybehr · « **Reply #19 on:** 3 Mar 2012, 09:56 pm »

I love the overall sounds of these amps so much that I've violated my goal of NOT trying to improve them for at least a month. That lasted 3 days.

Have replaced the 8-per-amp 'DNA' caps with BlackGate-F 680/65s; the 16-per-amp emitter resistors with NI wire-wound Mills MRA-5s; and the 8-per-amp DNA-cap bypasses, 0.47uF orangedrops, with 4-per-amp 1uF SoniCap (Teflon-film) Platinums...and the amps still work!

They continue to sound excellent and will improve as the new caps break in.

Will be improving the output caps in the frontend's powersupply, replacing those orangedrop bypass caps with more SoniCap Platinums, and replacing a few more orangedrops with RTX ('styrenes). New Cardas CCGR* binding posts, Furutech all-UPOCC-copper RCAs, and Furutech power Inlets will finish it.

* copper/copper/gold (on the nut)/rhodium (on the post)