Vandersteen 5a's - an upgrade from Vienna mahlers?

Vandy's, Vandy's, Vandy's. One of the best speakers I have ever heard. I put them up with the Quad 989's, Magnepan 20.1's, SoundLab Ultimates, and Wilson's (just about all). There is so much good stuff out there now, isn't there?

The Vandy's sound amazing, but at $14.5k you better be pretty excited about them. I just picked up a pair of mint Mahlers from an Audiogon member for $3,900. He has more gear than he knows what to do with. He also lives in a small apartment and the Mahlers obviously don't work there.

I have a large listening room and am upgrading from a pair of VA Beethovens that have been delightful.

I will be driving the Mahlers with the new Mcintosh MC207 and the MX119 processor.

Setup is tommorrow.. I can't wait!

I'm compelled to say, be very careful to demo any Vanderstein before purchase. For an hour or two, put the engineering and technical erotica away from sight in a drawer, and listen to your music. Obviously the thing to do with any speaker, but good to keep in mind particularly when considering a product line like this with such a devoted following.

Sincerely,

-Bill.

"I love Audiogon." As someone fairly new to Audiogon(member since Jan. 2005) I have to say "I love Audigon." It is a thread like this one that really makes me appreciate the knowlegde that goes into this hobby. I have never heard the speakers in question, but the 5A's have for a while been my "dream" speaker because I love quality and I love Bass. Reading and learning through these posts just makes me love the hobby more.

Unfortunately, you can't put up all the technical stuff with a Vandersteen because setup takes some doings. Let me ask this one simple question, when going to a dealer, how many dealer "Associates" have ever measured your ear height at the listening position? If the speaker is not tilted back and set up to YOUR ear height, you will NEVER hear what any Vandy speaker truly offers!