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Zen Crescendo or 5a...will they work in my room?

I'm looking for some thoughts here...

My dedicated listening room is 20'x 15'x 8' with the back wall behind the listening chair 4' high and opening into the kitchen area. The supported floor is wood and there is a 2' high crawl space underneath. The speakers can out from the short wall as much as need be, and proper treatment of the room will be done.

My very short list has come down to the Acoustic Zen Crescendo, and the Vandersteen 5a non-carbon. I have listened to both and could be very happy with either. Since I am a fan of tubes, I suppose the Crescendo has nosed perhaps ahead in the race, due to the fact that they seem to enjoy being paired with them. But I'm not dismissing the fact that the Vandy's woofers are self-powered, leaving the rest of the spectrum to be powered by perhaps a 100w tube amp.

Does anyone see an issue with my room dimensions when it comes to either of these speakers? Will the crawl space below lessen the chances of getting excellent bass response from either speaker?

I'd have more of an idea to what would work in my environment, but this is a new house and I've yet to put a system in there.

TIA...
soundqcar
schubert
7,386 posts
 
I had a pair in my house for a month belonging to a friend who went to France for a month and wanted them guarded while he was away.
I ran them with a Response Audio Bella Extreme (50 watts a side with Siemens El 34) and a Bryston BP-6 pre.
Totally natural sound ,not projected, but flowing in a stream as clear and liquid as a mountain spring.Every line and instrument clear and rock solid in a space reminding me of my favorite hall, the Gewandhouse in Leipzig.
Only reason I haven't bought any is I pay cash and am about 10K short-LOL .
jeoneil
29 posts
 
You asked...

I have 5A Carbons in an 11 x 22 foot room with an 8 foot ceiling. The woofer technology is identical to the 5A non-Carbon. I was limited where I could place the speakers because the room is shared. The back of the speakers are 18" from the short wall.

I couldn't be happier with the sound overall. The dealer configured the 11 band EQ to mitigate a room node at around 60Hz and the resulting bass response is fantastic. I no longer feel deprived that I lack a dedicated listening room. Also, the WAF of this solution is high. She didn't like tube traps.

You didn't ask....

Rpeluso has it right. But here, have another random opinion :-)

Increase your speaker budget and get the 5A carbons. Or get the Quattro carbon and trade up later. The 5A carbon is 25% more expensive than the 5a but it sounds more like the Model 7 than the 5a. To me, a very open and natural sound with amazing detail but no 'hi-fi' artifacts. I listened to a lot of speakers before I made this choice, the very nice sounding AZ included. YMMV of course.
enigmatic_s's avatar
enigmatic_s
11 posts
 
I sold my Van5A in favour of Montana Kas.
How did they sound in same room with same equipment and with even break in period: The Montanas blew the Van away..keywords: Seamless, amazing botton end, extremely detailed, with realistic height and width regarding the artists. You can easily trace the contours of instruments and singers. I have even owned Magico Q5..did not reach the Montana to their knees even..Van5A was amazing, Montana another league, with depths to die for
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