Lightning quick DYNAMIC amp in the under $1000 range

@celander 

For a while I had both the Khartago and the STA-200's big brother, Job 225, with the 2CE Sigs and they both worked great fronted by the W4S STP-SE so if the STA-200 has enough juice it will work well too but I think the Khartago is a better fit. Plus as was pointed out by others the Khartago can be upgraded all the way up to Kismet status using the same case. I've only tryed the STA-200 with the Nola KO's and the Verity Otello's which are more efficient than the Vandies.

I own an STA200 and it is in fact a great little amp if you have the right preamp for it but in my almost 20 years with three different Vandersteen models my favorite amplifier match was Odyssey.  For $995 the Khartago is as good as you are going to get and it's higher input sensitivity makes preamp choice a lot easier.  The Khartago was a great match for several years with a pair of 2CE Sigs at my house and more than held it's own with Treo's. Plus there is a 20 year transferable warranty. 

@mrdecibel 

No doubt the dual STA-200's will be fine but again the Khartago is upgradable and an easier match with more preamp choices.  I had to buy the STP-SE to get the Job 225 to work out as it was incompatible with the other preamps I had on hand. The STA-200 could be an even easier harder match.  But in the end what we would chose first doesn't matter as he is the one buying the amp.