Madfloyd - I owned Vandersteen 2ce sigs and 3a sigs, and have listened to the 5As a number of times. Don't mistrust your ears--in my experience, the 3A sigs and the 5A's can sound annoyingly bright. Operative word: "can". Personally, I think ARC gear and Vandys are not a good combination, though supposedly Vandersteen has used the combo in shows. For my taste (and I don't like "warts and all" type hyper-detailed sound--at all), Vandys work best with easy-going and warm-ish tube gear--with lots of power. My gut sense, also, is that 3A's and 5A's probably work best in larger rooms. Mine is 14x19.
I eventually quit trying to make Vandys work for me, in my room, and moved on. But I want to emphasize that I've heard 5A's sound very nice with the right equipment. There are many very satisfied Vandy owners, and as some of the other posters attest, set up (and associated gear) matters.
But also, trust your ears. At least for me, my biggest buying mistakes have come when my ears were saying "I don't know," but my brain was saying, "Yeah, yeah" because of what other people said, or because it was a great deal, or some other thing that brains do from time to time.
Good luck.
I eventually quit trying to make Vandys work for me, in my room, and moved on. But I want to emphasize that I've heard 5A's sound very nice with the right equipment. There are many very satisfied Vandy owners, and as some of the other posters attest, set up (and associated gear) matters.
But also, trust your ears. At least for me, my biggest buying mistakes have come when my ears were saying "I don't know," but my brain was saying, "Yeah, yeah" because of what other people said, or because it was a great deal, or some other thing that brains do from time to time.
Good luck.