The limitations of the Soundlab A-1's is the limitation of the other components in the system, or a room problem. In the event that better results are achieved by a cone speaker like the Vandersteen 5, I am certain of this. One of the members of my audio group listens here with me every week, and he has a pair of Vandersteen 5's and nearly the identical equipment as me everywhere else in his system. The point of this? Not only do I think I have superior performance, he thinks so too. Do not consider this as an attack on you or Vandersteen products, I owned Vandersteen 4A's as my last speaker before Soundlab, I had (relative to most systems) a superior system with the Vandersteen, and my listening partner (with Vandy 5's) has an even better system than I did with my 4A's. But as already stated, we both prefer the U-1 Soundlab as the reference with all things being equal. By the way, we are both all high end tube everywhere, analog as our reference, and use properly applied room treatment, it works for both systems, as the room dimensions are also similar. Best wishes.
