Monos for Quad 989

Over the last year or two on my Quads 2805's and my friends 2905's I have heard in very controlled settings:

Audio Research VT 200 Mk III,
Quicksilver V4's,
2 Atmasphere Amps, (30 watt current model, and 140
watt prior model)
Quicksilver V4's
Convergent
Krell KSA Series Amp
Quad 80's,
Estoeric A-100,
Tom Evans Linear B's

My favorites in order:

1. Estoeric A-100 (My favorite by a mile)
2. Convergent
3. Tom Evans Linear B's
4. Quad Eighty Mono's

Of the amps you started the thread with I can not see any of them being the "last amp you may ever buy" they leave to much performance to be desired when matched to Quads, for my taste. Now I am not suggesting you must spend $18,000 dollars to be happy, many lower cost alternatives are good.

I like the Vac alternative that was suggested, performance wise. I used to own a Vac Phi 300, and it is a great sounding amp, with the Martin Logan Summits I owned at the time, but I have not heard the Vac Phi, with my Quads. Nonetheless, I do it expect it would be a very good match, I was moving towards going back to Vac, when I discovered the Esoteric, which is end game for me.

Sorry to ramble, good luck!

I use Conrad Johnson Premier 12's with my 63's. They do get warm, but IMO really not an issue. Factory service and support is excellent and with proper care they will probably live longer than you. Also a very nice match with Quads, very musical.

quad monos

Thank you for your responses. I did reach out to Atma-Sphere and spoke with Adam, Ralph was taking a well deserved day off. The recommendation, based upon clients that have Quads, are the MA-I MkII.3 monos. However, in the interim another brand has been offered up to me for considration. This is VAC, specific recommendations are: Standard 220 Monoblock, Renaissance 140 or MKIII Signature Triode Monos. I'd like to get feedback on these as well from the community. If those that are so kind as to respond would please provide some insight into some of the issues originally raised in this email: sound, heat, customer service, etc. Please note that I am more than willing to expand my consideration set of amplification choices.

Thanks to all who respond

I would second Sbank's advice and check with Ralph of Atma-Sphere. Also his other suggestion are well worth investigating. I've owned Quads for years, loved them with Jadis monos (80s and 220s), even drove a pair of 989s with the Jadis 500s which was overkill. Happy hunting.

I've owned the Atma MA1s, and think highly of them. Also, owned Quad ESL63USA's, but not at same time. I would recommend calling Ralph at Atma-Sphere, and asking him about user's matching experience w/Quads. Impedance dips are the question. Autoformers eliminate any matching problems if they exist, but autoformers impact on sonics is debatable.
If you are limited to your list, I'd give the Quickies 2nd vote, although I like their Triode monos better than the V4s.
If you want to consider others, check out the Dehavilland line, they offer the benefits of SETs, but are designed to drive a wider variety of speakers including your quads. Kara is also awesome to work with. Cheers,
Spencer