Vandersteen 7s

I guess Michael in fact did compare the Maxx 3 to the 7s. He mentioned the 7s were not the last word in dynamic slam and also the stage height wasn't the best in class.

I haven't heard 7's but hearing 5A's gave me an idea how pointless to spend even fraction for these.

I've heard this 80 percent figure before in reguards to how close the upgrade will bring the 5A to the performance level of the 7s. I have a couple problems with this.
1. As I recall even the upgrade is over $20,000 and involves sending the speakers back to California. For that expense and trouble I'd want to be a lot closer than 80 percent there.
2. This has to be an inaccurate estimate. I would think the 5A in it's native form would be closer to 90 percent as good as the 7s given how much we normally pay for audio upgrades for ever shrinking reurns.
It will be interesting to hear comparisons of the upgrade versus the 7s versus the 5A but it will be some time before that's even possible. For most of us, sticking with the 5A will likely make the most sense. Here's hoping I'm among the sensible ones, though I'm sure I will be tempted.

02-16-10: Musicslug
I heard them at Definitive a couple weeks ago. insanely good. insanely expensive. probably not having the $ is a good thing - if you hear them you'll want them.

I was there for their "Music Matters" open house too. The Vandy 7's have a very natural tonal balance and energize the room similar to live music. I heard reference to their high price, but didn't catch what that price was.

I also heard the new Wilson Sashas there; I think the Wilsons and V-7's are excellent speakers but reflect different philosophies. The Wilsons are extremely fast and high-rez. They require the right electronics and meticulous room setup to sound right. My impression was that the Vandy's give you all the music and would be easy to live with.

Then I heard the new B&W 802D (diamond tweeter) in a third room. These rather impressed me. Tonally they sat in between the Sashas and V-7's. With the 600w Classe amps driving them they had good transparency and lots of slam and bass extension. B&W pointed out that with their economy of scale the 802D's only cost $15K but are competitive with more expensive speakers. I'd have to agree. They put out like a $25K speaker.

I also need to post over in the analog forum about this open house because the DPS turntable/tonearm tweaked, regulated, integrated, and marketed in the US by Ayre just kicks @$$. It's about a $12K rig that sounds like a $30K SME.

All this talk of Vandy 7's/ Maxx3's has gotten droooool all over my keyboard but hey that's what paper towels are for.
I was up to Weinhart Designs a couple of weeks back and the Magico 5's were playing.
I was there for cables---After a short listen I asked David to turn them down---After all; I had to go home and listen to my system.
I for one enjoy Sam banter;'cause he always has back-stories. Sort of like fruit and cream with my cereal.-- Much like reading the different opines,here.--It's all audio chat and that's good