vandersteen 5 to 5a

My understanding is that Vandersteen originally planned to offer the upgrade as a field kit, but found that the process was too difficult to do in the field.

Apparently some of the replacement drivers have different mounting geometry, so new mounting holes must be precision-drilled in the head, and the old holes must be filled and sealed. The consequences of mis-drilling the holes would be catastrophic (ruined head), so apparently Vandersteen decided to make the upgrade factory-only.

As to whether it's worth the money - only you can decide that. I made my purchase after the 5A had been introduced. I auditioned the 5 back-to-back with the 5A, and chose the 5A. The 5 is a great speaker, the 5A is substantially improved. Quite substantially improved.

I do suggest that if you don't already have pretty much the best-of-the-best in electronics, the upgrade probably won't be worth it to you. If you do have great electronics, it probably will be worth it to you.

I have owned both- I upgraded my 5's to 5A.
The first thing that struck me when I got the 5A's from the factory was- they retrieve more low level detail- that, for me, was the most signifigant improvement. They do everything slightly better though, but low level details is what I noticed most.
For the record, I use for gear:

Linn LP12 /Ekos/Arkiv/Lingo/Cirkus
AudioQuest LeoPard tonearm cable
Aesthetix IO, dual volume control
AusioQuest Cheetah interconnect
Theta Citadels
AudioQuest Volcano speaker cable

Will

thanks for all feedback.still hard to decide if another 5700.00 is worth it.i will would have 11,500.00 invested at this point and there are some exceptional spkrs avail. for 5700.00.a tough decision.did any get to keep the components that were replaced?thanks again.

The upgrade is more than worth the cost. I was amazed when I got them and they worked in. The sound is at least 40% better IMHO. As for the parts, what would you do with them?

mikej.i would take the sub amps and build two sub-woofers just for fun,as i have other systems to play with.how long was your turn around time.thanks.