Vanderteen 5A's versus Wilson WattPuppy 7's

The dealer audition of the 5As had a lot of very low bass which caused me some reservations like you. They were set up "flat" since Dick Vandersteen was coming to the store in two days and he was going to show them his setup procedure. I decided to overlook the slight issues I had.

My 5A are still fairly new but they are broke in and the dealer came back to adjust the bass. I am convinced that unless you have a very odd room the Vandys can be set up to get it right. I spent 2 years moving my Dunlavy SC4A and REL Stentor around EVERYWHERE and the 5As are far better than I hoped for in the bass as well as in ALL areas.

The 5As have a lot more detail than the Dunlavys yet the sound in my room is warm in a realistic way. I plan to revisit the bass adjustments again later but after listening to a lot of music and HT they are close if not there.

BTW I very much agree with what Rwd and Burce 1 said.

Terry

I had a similar internal dialog within the past several months, however, several other speakers have also been part of the mix. I found that 5As and WP7s were similarly appealing with respect to long term listenability, but they were not equally compelling to listen to. On the very best systems there seems to be an elevated ability to convey the communication between musicians, or even the meaning of a song sung by a solo vocalist. These subtle shades of meaning may lie in very small dynamic and tonal changes that are very brief in duration, and very easily obscured. I've heard the 5As and WP7s several times on the same systems (once, perhaps, in the same LA area dealer as Agaffer), and the 5As obscure what the WP7s reveal in an unparalleled way. I thrive on that aspect of musical expression, so my choice is obvious.

Can you elaborate more on what you mean by this post? What do you perceive as the differences between the Wilson WP7 and the Vandy 5A???

I hope a few specific musical examples will suffice.

On Ella Fitzgerald's 40th birthday concert recording (In Rome) she sings "Stompin' at the Savoy" with Oscar Peterson's piano trio accompanying her. There are several instances when you can tell that Oscar was subtly pushing Ella's tempo and that she pushed back. He did this primarily with the pedals, and I actually felt the hammer sustain with the WP7s. I couldn't with the 5As. This extremely charming interaction was lost.

On Stevie Ray Vaughn's recording "In Step", the song "Tightrope" displays a novel blues ensemble sound that I've only really heard through the WP7s as I did live. For this album, Stevie and the bassist, Tommy Shannon developed a group improvisatory approach that I haven't heard before, or since. It involves the guitar and bass very closely tracking each other dynamically, as well as chordally. It has the effect of the two instruments sounding like they are "breathing" together. This close tracking occurs through the lowest notes on the electric bass, to way up on the fret-board of the guitar, and from silence to screamingly loud. It gives me a rush just thinking about it. The WP7s display this event so naturally that it seems impossible for you not to have noticed it before. The 5As did not have the finesse to track the moment to moment changes in volume in the two instruments throughout their range, obscuring the details, and substantially reducing the emotional impact of the song.

These, and many other musical moments distinguish these two speakers in my mind. I want to add, however, that I think the 5As are marvelous. I have a pair of Vandersteen 1Cs at home and I think that company only knows how to make marvelous music. I just think the WP7s are in a different arena altogether. I hope this is helpful :)