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-   -   New Vandersteen Amp (https://www.audioaficionado.org/showthread.php?t=41817)

ylee 02-11-2018 02:00 AM

Richard Vandersteen brought his M5-HPA amps to Gifted Listener Audio in Centreville, VA last Thursday. Tom, the owner had a pair of Quatro Wood CTs (which he ordered for his store when I ordered mine) Richard could hook up to. Suffice it to say the sound was very nice. This amp was made for the Quatro Wood CT. I plan on adding the monoblocks into my system this summer after I get a power conditioner or regenerator this spring.

ylee 02-18-2018 12:20 PM

I put down a deposit to take delivery of these in June. I will post impressions in August.

cma29 02-18-2018 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ylee (Post 900370)
I put down a deposit to take delivery of these in June. I will post impressions in August.

Very nice, Yong.

I had the pleasure of hearing Yong's system in January. Very detailed with a super low noise floor. These amps will surely take it to the next level.

ylee 02-18-2018 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cma29 (Post 900548)
Very nice, Yong.

I had the pleasure of hearing Yong's system in January. Very detailed with a super low noise floor. These amps will surely take it to the next level.

While my Benchmark AHB2 is very detailed and musical in its own right, the M5-HPA is very refined while being equally detailed. While a solid state amp, Richard Vandersteen explained that it has very similar circuitry as his much more expensive M7-HPA with the primary difference being that it lacks the tubes of its more expensive brother. Interestingly enough, both the M5-HPA and the AHB2 use feed-forward correction, as explained by both companies. Should be an interesting comparison.

The M5-HPA has 150 watts per channel compared to the AHB2's 100. So combined with the built-in subwoofer amp my system will put out 400 watts/channel (8 ohms). Given the excellence of the AHB2, I'll probably get Benchmark's DAC3 which is a sort of DAC/Pre to use with a different pair of speakers.

ylee 11-21-2018 01:07 AM

So 9 months after I ordered them, the M5-HPA monoblocs arrived at my dealer today and I went by after work to pick them up. Vandersteen had supply chain challenges given how hot the economy has been and how much his suppliers were booked with preexisting orders. I now have them installed in my system.

Initial impression is they are a spot-on match for the Quatro Wood CT, as Richard Vandersteen intended. The combo is somehow more detailed and more smooth sounding compared to my AHB-2, which is an outstanding amplifier. I will post more impressions after a significant amount of burn-in.

PlanarSpeakerFan 11-21-2018 03:06 AM

I heard the M5-HPA monoblocks at RMAF 2017 and two weekends ago at a dealer event, both times on Quatro CT’s. The entirely solid state amps sounded very transparent with a lot of weight, yet they had a certain ease to them and a realistic amount of bloom. Of course, they are not quite as delicate or refined as the M7-HPA but they do have similar balls. Synergy with the Quatro is, as you would expect, off the charts. The amps are a tremendous value, they are worth a lot more than what Richard is charging. I would say if you have the Quatro CT or 5A Carbon, you should buy a pair before he raises the price, and run with them. They are that good.

Ken

4N6 11-21-2018 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ylee (Post 941344)
So 9 months after I ordered them, the M5-HPA monoblocs arrived at my dealer today and I went by after work to pick them up...

Congratulations on the new amps!!!

ylee 11-21-2018 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4N6 (Post 941361)
Congratulations on the new amps!!!

Thank you!

ylee 11-21-2018 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PlanarSpeakerFan (Post 941351)
I heard the M5-HPA monoblocks at RMAF 2017 and two weekends ago at a dealer event, both times on Quatro CT’s. The entirely solid state amps sounded very transparent with a lot of weight, yet they had a certain ease to them and a realistic amount of bloom. Of course, they are not quite as delicate or refined as the M7-HPA but they do have similar balls. Synergy with the Quatro is, as you would expect, off the charts. The amps are a tremendous value, they are worth a lot more than what Richard is charging. I would say if you have the Quatro CT or 5A Carbon, you should buy a pair before he raises the price, and run with them. They are that good.

Ken

Indeed, the word from Richard is that prices are going to go up. They are already $800 more than what I paid.

My system sounds so musical with these amps. The AHB-2 sounded great. the M5-HPA sounds phenomenal.

PlanarSpeakerFan 11-22-2018 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ylee (Post 941502)
Indeed, the word from Richard is that prices are going to go up. They are already $800 more than what I paid.

My system sounds so musical with these amps. The AHB-2 sounded great. the M5-HPA sounds phenomenal.

Congratulations on your M5-HPA monoblocks! They are phenomenal. Dream amps for sure.

Best,
Ken


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