FWIW, I agree completely with Bigtee's comments. The first post in this thread regarding Vandersteen is inaccurate and misleading, and is apparently written by someone who has not listened extensively to the Vandy 5A. The 5A is one of the most refined, full-range speakers on the market, and there are only a couple of speakers that compete with it in the $15k price range. Richard Vandersteen has some of the best ears in the high-end speaker industry, and he holds patents on several of the driver designs that he uses.
The lack of "magic" that you note may be due to several factors:
1. less than optimal setup by the dealer (the 5A's are quite sensitive to room placement, and the subwoofer must be tuned to the listening room);
2. less than ideal front-end electronics (the 5A's are very revealing of upstream components and recordings);
3. the 5A's (and the 3A Signatures as well) do not tend to "grab you by the throat" the way some speaker designs do, but virtue of being very balanced and musical. Some high-end speaker designs have added treble or upper mid-range emphasis, which may be initially appealing but is not satisfying in the long run.
While I'd agree that PSB and B&W also make fine speakers, PSB does not make a single model that can compete with the 5A's, and the only B&W model that will challenge the 5A's is the "801" (which is more expensive than the 5A).
All of this, of course, matters not a damn unless the 5A's sound good to YOUR ears. I'd suggest, however, that before you make a decision to reject the 5A's, you should audition them at another dealership, and take your own music selections with you. The 5A is truly a world-class speaker that competes very well in the $15k - $25k range, when driven by high quality tube or solid state electronics.
The lack of "magic" that you note may be due to several factors:
1. less than optimal setup by the dealer (the 5A's are quite sensitive to room placement, and the subwoofer must be tuned to the listening room);
2. less than ideal front-end electronics (the 5A's are very revealing of upstream components and recordings);
3. the 5A's (and the 3A Signatures as well) do not tend to "grab you by the throat" the way some speaker designs do, but virtue of being very balanced and musical. Some high-end speaker designs have added treble or upper mid-range emphasis, which may be initially appealing but is not satisfying in the long run.
While I'd agree that PSB and B&W also make fine speakers, PSB does not make a single model that can compete with the 5A's, and the only B&W model that will challenge the 5A's is the "801" (which is more expensive than the 5A).
All of this, of course, matters not a damn unless the 5A's sound good to YOUR ears. I'd suggest, however, that before you make a decision to reject the 5A's, you should audition them at another dealership, and take your own music selections with you. The 5A is truly a world-class speaker that competes very well in the $15k - $25k range, when driven by high quality tube or solid state electronics.