Vandersteen 5a. How refined a product are they

"the 5A's (and the 3A Signatures as well) do not tend to "grab you by the throat" the way some speaker designs do"

Which is part of the reason they are such great speakers. Overly bright speakers grab you at the store but, fail to satisfy after you get them home and try to listen for hours. With the 5As hours of musical enjoyment pass and you still want more. They do require more setup expertise then most other speakers, however. Not because they are finicky but, you will find that wherever you set the controls at first they will require a second setup after about 200 hours and possibly a third adjustment at about 300 hours. A good Vandersteen dealer knows this and should offer to come to your house and set them up for you and let you know that he will be back to fine tune them after they are broken in. There is a possibility that your dealer's speakers weren't yet broken in. Also, it shouldn't be done by ear. He should have proper tools for the setup.

Fjn04,
Can you tell us more about the partnering equipment and setup?

One of the best speakers I ever heard was the 5a set up in LA, One of the worst speakers I ever heard was the 5a set up in Minnesota. Set up and system matching is critical with these and all other speakers for that matter

Heck, I've heard the 5A sound like absolute magic, and then sound like absolute crap in the same room. Same equipment, too. The difference? The dealer had to move them farther back to make room for other equipment. They still sounded pretty good, but they blew my mind in their first position. It was the single most convincing reproduction of music that I had ever heard.

first poster obviously has not heard the 5 or 5a,or at least spent any time with them.sounds like an axe to grind.refer to second poster for objective and more accurate info.