New Vandersteen Amp
 

Caught wind of this on Facebook at first and then in the general 'Net:

https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2018/...r-at-ces-2018/

Details I see include single-ended circuits (as opposed to fully balanced) and adjustable high pass filter to work with Vandersteen's powered bass speakers as well as more conventional speakers. Should be interesting to audition. It seems to address a question I posed to Richard, as I'm sure others have - "what amps would you recommend for your <speaker>?"

They look like Egyptian Tombs... Pretty fugly for $57k


https://i2.wp.com/parttimeaudiophile...1000,489&ssl=1

The M7-HPA cost $52k/pair, so the M5-HPA described as costing substantially less should be far cheaper. I agree they aren't exactly lookers.

Vandersteen price
 

They are 15k. As stated in numerous articles 250 into 8 ohms.

Reminds me of a safety deposit box at the bank. :dunno:

Agree it's not much to look at but if it is one of Dean from PSE's designs it will sound good. You can get much the same in a better looking chassis and a tubed input stage from the Aestetix Atlas starting at $10k. It also has the same high pass options and Richard has used it in shows for years. A friend of mine from college was a Vandersteen dealer for over 20 years and when he first started selling them was also a PSE dealer and that was the go to amp for the Vandersteen speakers in SS amps with ARC for tubes. Later when Dean's business started to go down he recommended DR designed Classe' amps.

New Vandersteen Amp
 

Hmm, sites are reporting 150/300 8/4 ohm rating for the M5-HPA.

I agree, not much of a looker.

From Michael Fremer of AnalogPlanet:

"Firstly was the Vandersteen room where the sound is always good. This year the company introduced a new mono block amplifier the M5-HPA. It's a minimalist solid state design outputting 300 watts into 4 ohms and 150 into 8. The $15,000 a pair amps driving a pair of moderately priced ($13,900/pr) Vandersteen Quatro Wood CT speakers produced the best sound I heard yesterday, with a midrange transparency that kept me listening for more than a half hour to my high resolution files from vinyl. I could have sat for the rest of the afternoon hogging the programming but wisely I relinquished control."

If they are even close in SQ to the SQ of his 7 Series amps that pair so nicely with his 7 series speakers at ~$15k they would be a steal. I agree they don't have the best industrial design.

+1

They should mate nicely with the Vandersteen 5A Carbon’s or the Quatro CT.

Ken

The amp
 

Just off the phone with my friend/dealer of The ARC/Vandersteen line. He had the new amps for an afternoon and was in awe of the performance. Transparent midrange, not quite as good as the HP-7's. Made an attractive price offer. But I do value and trust his word implicitly.

I imagine Richard would not have undertaken the effort of bringing amplifiers to market unless he felt he could create optimal synergy with his speakers to realize their full potential. Most were happy mating tube amps in general (ARC in particular) as well as pairing Ayre SS amps with his speakers and getting great results already.

I was more thinking they have that dehumidifier look. Hook up the drain hose in the back. :D

Richard
 

States that these are not full frequency amps and come with an adjustable high pass filter and are meant for use with powered sub woofer speakers, per Stereophile website.

That's a lot of coin for driving a pair of subs.

No, it's meant to drive the main speakers with the support of powered subs.

Looks
 

If you ever saw the Klienfelter designed PSE Studio1 amp and pre-amps, they were just black rectangular cases. Not lookers either!

Finally
 

Someone gets it!

Obviously meant mostly for his own line of speakers with built-in powered subwoofers like my Quatros or even the Model 5. People who lay out the money for Model 7s will buy the M7-HPA.

Exactly correct.

Ken

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Congratulations on the new amps!!!

Thank you!

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

Ken - given how good the M5-HPA/Quatro Wood CT combo sounds, I can only begin to imagine what your M7/Model 7 MkII sound like!

As per my knowledge it's a minimalist solid state design outputting 300 watts into 4 ohms and 150 into 8. The 15,000 a pair amps driving a pair of moderately priced Vandersteen Quatro Wood CT speakers produced the best sound I heard yesterday, with a midrange transparency that kept me listening for more than a half hour to my high resolution files from vinyl.

pcb assembly process

LanePanet, welcome to AA! :thumbsup:

The monoblocs have been burning in nicely through the holidays. The synergy with the Quatro Wood CT is well nigh perfect. The insight the combo gives me into my music, especially in the midrange, is enchantingly addictive. The bass foundation is simply tremendous. Organ notes below 60Hz especially flourish through these amps. Mid-bass thwacks are visceral. Music has propulsive pace and rhythm. The overall sound is simply more immersive and intimate.

The Benchmark AHB2 I was using in my system before gave me enormous insight into what was in my music collection compared to my old Classe CA-2200. It remains a valued component in my possession. As such, I'm searching for a good pair of speakers for it.

The M5-HPAs realize the full potential of my system with my Quatros and give me a smooth yet detailed sound that is to me enchanting.