Last Speakers Aerial 20T or Vandersteen 5A

According to the Stereophile review of the Aerial's and what i know of the Vandersteen's, the 5's would be a better choice in ANY given room. Not only are the Vandy's WAY less money, they provide at least two distinct advantages over the Ariel's. That is, the 5's allow you to tailor / fine tune bass response to achieve flatter, more natural response via active equalization. On top of that, the Vandy's minimize the strain on your amp by providing its' own subwoofer amp. Whether or not you like one presentation over the other is up to you and a matter of personal preference. As Timo stated, you would really have to listen and see for yourself.

As a side note and so as not to "contaminate" this thread, i was going to post something about the Aerial review and general "big dollar" speaker trends within the audiophile marketplace. I'll do that in another post. Sean
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And here's another thought. The Vandersteens maintain their value better than probably any other speaker, so if it turns out you're unhappy with them they'd be easy to sell.

Also, I haven't heard the 20T, but I have heard the 10T several times and the Vandersteen is just a much better speaker -- if you're looking for coherency and accuracy, that is. IMHO.

I evaluated the Aerial 20T (and quite a few others) against the Vandersteen 5A, and chose the Vandersteen speakers.

Your room is a bit narrow though - is there a possibility that you could put the loudspeakers on the long wall?

I'm sold on time aligned and phase coherent speakers. With that said, I'm biased for the Vandersteen. It also allows for fine tuning of the bass (as Sean points out above) and it's much less money for just as well built but more accurate speaker.
The ribbon tweeter and dual ported woofers would scare me away immediately. I have never heard ribbons and dynamic drivers ever blend correctly to the point where I didn't think you had timing issues.
You may not prefer the Vandersteen, which is of course fine. A lot of Audiophiles do not get excited over truly accurate designs. The are use to hearing colorations and the tweeters sound arriving way before the rest of the speaker giving that "Illusion" of transparency.

Why only two choices? For this kind of money there are other fine performers. Your amps are not very common, and few here will know how any speakers will exactly sound with them. Would you be willing to replace them if you really like the new speakers? For example, Kharma speakers sound incredible with LAMM electronics. Or, Michael Green Audio Classic Chameleons with outboard crossovers have a unique design and sound signature. Also, the cost issue. Does it make any difference for you to spend $25000 instead of $15000 provided you get a much better sound? Vandersteen is a popular choice, not everyone's though. Do not get affected by the herd instinct. Trust your ears. You have one of the best front ends available, both analog and digital; it is going to be difficult for speakers to match it.