I heard the A5 hooked up to some huge Gryphon amps at a local dealership. I thought the sound was decent--typical of many such high end speakers--they image extremely well, particularly with respect to front- to back image placement specificity, they sound detailed and clean and smooth (no harsh peaks in the frequency response). To my taste they were on the slightly lean side (needed a bit more in the upper bass region), but not disagreeably lean. What they lacked most, to me, is what almost all low efficiency speakers lack--the ability to sound alive and vibrant at lower listening levels, and an overall lack in dynamic ability such that they were a touch "lifeless" unless cranked up a bit. Whether this is a characteristic of such speakers or the kinds of amplifiers needed for such speakers, I don't know, and it really doesn't matter; I like the dynamics and low-volume capability of high-efficiency speakers and low-powered amps.
Speakers vary so much in sound characteristics that it is possible for one to favor a very cheap speaker over a mega-buck system if the cheap speaker just happens to fit one's basic preference profile. This does NOT mean the mega-buck speaker is a failure or rip-off, it just means it is not suited to your taste. An audition is the only way to determine if it is to ones taste and worth the money.