VANDERSTEEN 5A

What did Vandersteen say? There's no way he would see those amps come back 6 times for repairs and not grab the phone and start asking questions.

He did ask questions and he suggested that it might be the electric in my house which I updated (costing $3K) for the two dedicated circuits, isolated and hospital grade outlets just for the subs. However, after few weeks the same thing happened and they had to go back again.

Matter of fact they are still in his hands (30 days and counting) and waiting for getting them back.

I have 5A's ....an electrical storm took out one amp, but after 5 or 6 years, never had any other issue.... only returned for new batteries

ewww...this makes me glad I didn't pursue a used 5A purchase. it is also why I have been leary of buying powered anything. I had great luck and really enjoyed my old vandersteen 2ci so I really was looking closely at finding some used 5A as my reference upgrade.

how quickly do they die? is it something that you can replicate by taking them to the dealer that you bought them from and having him run them on his power grid for a specified period of time to see if the same occurs?

Obviously, something's not right here. I don't know what's wrong with your speakers, but I doubt they are going bad due to some type of quality issue. Something else is causing them to fail. It would probably help to list your system. Also, I assume that your dealer was out to have a look at your system. I'm pretty sure its required that the dealer does the initial install on a pair of 5's. Maybe your dealer can let you borrow some good surge protectors for a while. They won't protect against lightning strikes, but I think you can rule that out. I doubt your house got hit by lightning 6 times. You could have power surges. Do any of your neighbours have problems?

I never had any problems with my 5As. They are rock solid.

my dealer is very good and did come to the house to look at the speakers and they have been very good at helping me getting them repaired. The dealer did get back to me and told me that the previous times that the amps were in for repairs most likely were caused by power surges. And the reason why the amp went in for repairs after the upgraded electrical in my room was because there was an intermittence with the amp that was not detected the least time it went in and before the electrical upgrade. the issue seems to be fixed and i should not have any more issues with the amps. I am very happy to hear this news and I love my Vandersteen

He is not sympathetic to used gear, but to his defence, it sounds like your home electrical system could use a thorough investigation.

I hope to see a post about a positive outcome in the near future.

Have you measured the voltage in those outlets - volt ohm meter. I remember repairing a preamp that worked well in my home and then the customer took it home and it did not work the same. After months of back-and-forth, I went to his home to measure the AC. It was 138 versus 120. go figure.

Have had Vandy 5A's for nearly 10 years, sound as good as nearly anything, and have never had a one problem. Owed 2Ce's and 3A's and 3A sigs before.

Something must be wrong with he electrical supply in your house

Yes I did check the outlets-voltage trough out the room few times a day all of the outlets measured a steady 120v.

Thank you to everyone feedback, I will post again with an update once I get the amp back and in my system.