Upgrade Vandy 3A's or get larger amp?

I upgraded my 3A's to the Signature version last summer, and was very glad I did. Ditto most of the comments above: cleaner, more transparent highs, and better balanced overall. I think both the 3A's and 3A Sig's clearly benefit from a larger power amp. I am using a Bryston 4B-ST, and it's turned out to be a great choice for the 3A Sig's. The 4B-ST is rated at 250 wpc, but actually puts out about 290 wpc. If you need less juice, you ought to consider the Bryston 3B-ST, which puts out about 150 wpc. The 4B-ST also does a terrific job of handling the bass, which really improves the bottom end of the 3A series.

I had 3A's but never did the upgrade before selling them :(

I agree with Tap3sap - it depends a LOT on which amp you have, in terms of power. It also depends a lot on your room size. In a mid to small room, the Vandy's don't need much power. But in a larger room, say 30' on one side, I think you need a rather beefy amp to get a full bodied and controlled sound out of the Vandy's. If you are bass-freak, you can never have enough power :)

Do you prefer solid state or tubes?I've owned Vandersteen's for nearly nine years before upgrading to Merlins.As good as the Vandies are,they overall are somewhat colored in respect to the Merlins.It simply is a matter choice vs dollars.If you plan on keeping the Steens,I'de consider an amp like the VT100mk2 or 3.Used they are a good deal and the Vandies love tubes.Just ask Mr.V himself........

I had my 3As up-graded to sigs a year ago and don't regret it. As noted in the above posts, it had the effect of opening up the whole upper music range, and the soundstage.

But really, over time and as money permits, I'd look to up-grade both. I can say that in a medium sized room that the McCormack DNA-2,1, and .5 all work very well with the 3As and all have a stiff enough power supply to control the bass well at reasonable listening levels. Good Luck. Craig

Aloha!

I own 2ce sig. driven by my audioprism debut tube amp 35w a channel;the amp is powerful enough to drive them nicely and loud enough to my liking;lying around I also have a pair of unused meitner mtr-100 monoamps at 100w,35a/channel,I decided to play with them and use it to passively biamp the LF of the speakers,the added current made the music amazingly more open and detailed,with no discernable distortion in the midrange either,without going into details with the bi-amping subject I think from my experience you certainly can benefit from added power for your 3As with just one amp of good quality;money wise you could as well spend the money to upgrade and from what the other reviews are saying it seems to sound just as great.
Don't think you can go wrong either way,eventually do both when the funds permits...:)
Thierry.