Vandersteen 5

Hi everyone thank you for you help. I've read through the 5 manual front and back. 

I'm going to order the spikes from Vandersteen. For now I put the furniture glides on that pmotz suggested.

After speaking with Vandersteen I tested the 5's at low volume without the high-pass (they said ok to do at low volume) and the subs worked.

 I spoke with McCormack this morning and they said that the platinum I have the imp is now 10k not 100k so I need to change that. I'll make the change tonight and see if that works. I've ordered the Jensen and waiting for it to arrive (as a temp solution) I'll eventually save up for a better preamp with xlr outs, or get the RCA high-pass. 

I'm still hoping someone see this and wants a balanced M5-HP that they'd be willing to trade for an RCA one. 

The batteries are right on the verge of needing a change and I'll send them in either this week or next. There's no way in hell I'm doing it. i also contacted Performance Audio in SF and they had zero interest in helping me because I didn't buy the speakers from them. Hey at least they were honest about it, but they did lose a future customer. 

Once everything else is squared away I'll started playing with the frequency controls.

I'm sure I'll have a ton of question and I appreciate all the help. Even as is the speakers sound amazing. 

@gdnrbob - beleive it or not mine actually go down to 10K (I just looked at a picture of my high pass filter and 10k is the lowest setting). Hopefully that will do the trick. I'm going to try changing it to that setting when I get home tonight. 

Last night I set the High-pass filter to 10k (per McCormack) and well WOW...The Vandersteen's just came to life. The Subs are now firing and I swear the high's and the mid's sound better. While I loved how by 2CE sig's sound the 5's sound much better. 

1.) Now for another question: Do I still need my subs to play LFE signals when I watch movies or will my current setup route the LFE signals to the subs built into the 5's?

My current setup is as follows: 
I've got a Rotel RSX 1550 A/V (yes I'm going to upgrade once budget allows), where I have my surrounds (for now 2Ce's as rears) and center (VCC-1) connected. For the 5's, as the fronts, the Rotel acts as the preamp, sending the front signal to the 5's. I have the 5's set as large and everything else set as small and subs as none. Is this correct and will the LFE be routed to the 5's? the Vandersteen manual says I don't need any other subs. Just wondering if I'll get full effects for movies this way? 

@tomic601 Thank's I'll give Randy a call today and see if he's be willing to swap/sell the filters. I'll also check out the Leica disto. My next project will be getting everything dialed in a positioned correctly, as I'm sure everything is a mess now. 

As for power cables the guy who sold the the 5's and the amp also gave me two anticable power cables, as well as a  VHA Flavor 2. How do I tell which version of the antipower cable I have and is this good enough for the amp? Should I sell the others? The VHA seems to be for preamps, but doesn't fit my rotel. 

Last thing. The guys at SMC audio have been amazing. They've been super help and spent a ton of time with me I'm super appreciative. I also plan on asking them to upgrade my amp once I get everything else dialed in.  

@kmckenn 
I think  I've got the 5's dialed down, but I'm not sure it it's planing the LFE signals. I think I need to keep playing with the settings.

I'll set the 2Ce's as large and see how they sound. I'm only planning on using surround for movies anyway. 

I guess at worse case I could keep one of my subs and set the crossovers to 40hz?

I think I've got everything up and running to a decent degree now. I've got the LFE set up for home theater and it sounds great. V5 and rear 2Cesigs set to larger no subs (currenlty trying to sell them). 

When I play music on two channel the V5 - 225 combo sounds amazing. 

I still need to send the crossovers in for the battery change, they're about 1 year overdue. She sounds amazing now. I'm curious to see what the fresh batteries do. 

Does anyone know how to properly adjust the 11 band equalizer on the back?
    1.) Do I buy a sound meter? 
    2.) Is it better if I just set the screws to neutral and call it a day?
    3.) Leave at whatever setting its at now?
    

Would the V5 subs benefit from fancy audio power cables or are standard cables fine? I bought them with fancy cables which don't fit the V5 plugs (Anticable 3), which didn't fir the plugs so I've been using standard cables, and may try and sell the fancy ones. 

@tomic601 Thank;'s for the suggestion - I've ordered the RS sound meter. 
@stringreen @audioconnection  Thank you both I've set the compensation screws to all neutral only 1 and 2 where not strait up. I'm planning on sending the batteries in after thanksgiving. I have  to admit I'm a bit intimidated by the prospect of taking them apart. Do ya'll know the turnaround time?  

The Vandy's sound so amazing now I have a hard time believing (but do) that changing the batteries will improve the sound

I really appreciate everyone's help and guidance and hope to return the favor one day. 

@tomic601 I just ordered 8 Energizer 10-yr lithium batteries from amazon. I'll prob wait unit mid-late dec to send them in as I'll be on vacation then. Will def take photos before unhooking - I don't want to mess that up. 

I've been listening to a wide range mix of music - a ton of classical: Mozart, Bach cello suites, Beethoven, Maria Callas,Tchaikovsky, Maller, Chopin. Spanish guitar, Elton John, Radio Head, Folk, Biggie, Gambino (rap sounds surprisingly good - these puppies can get down), remastered Beatles (just wow), Bob Marley, Grateful Dead, Buffet, Beastie Boys  - I guess I'm all over the place.

I've been using a mix of Spotify and Tidal to stream.

The only downside is I now notice the difference in recording quality. A problem I didn't have before. - yeah, yeah, yeah poor me...

I love some album suggestions if anyone has any. 

When I go five channel movies/TV also sound amazing. Bass is big on movies, but not muddled at all.

For 2-channel the bass its super crisp, but not overpowering at all. 

Thanks everyone I'll report back once I remove and send back. I've ordered the batteries from amazon.