Your room and setup sounds ideal and not too different from my own. My room is 18W by 30L by 11H (with cathedral ceilings). I too have positioned the speakers out from the back wall and listen in the near field.
The advantages of the 5As over the 3ASigs/2Wqs are many:
Better mid driver, and better cones.
Total seamless integration of speakers and subs.
A 400 watt amp with plenty of reserve.
Fully adjustable in 10 bands to flatten response.
Adjustable level and Q.
Less total furniture and a better looking speaker (WAF).
A cross-over that unloads the amp and thus cleans up the highs.
I don't know about your 10%, but this combination can't be beat at this price in my opinion.
I am using an ARC CD3, an ARC LS 25 MKII, and an ARC VT 100 MKIII. There seems to be a great synergy with ARC and Vandersteen 5As, and I am running all balanced. Without going into too much detail, I have good image height, width and depth, good separation and definition within the image, no apparent digital grain or harshness, and a roundness to the vocals. I have auditioned both the 5s and 5As in the same room with the same electronics and the 5As are a distinctly obvious improvement on both the top and bottom.
All that being said, the 3ASig/2Wq combination is very good and very reasonably priced, and would raise your current performance. You could go this route with the 5As in your future and have little trouble turning that equipment over later via AGON.
The advantages of the 5As over the 3ASigs/2Wqs are many:
Better mid driver, and better cones.
Total seamless integration of speakers and subs.
A 400 watt amp with plenty of reserve.
Fully adjustable in 10 bands to flatten response.
Adjustable level and Q.
Less total furniture and a better looking speaker (WAF).
A cross-over that unloads the amp and thus cleans up the highs.
I don't know about your 10%, but this combination can't be beat at this price in my opinion.
I am using an ARC CD3, an ARC LS 25 MKII, and an ARC VT 100 MKIII. There seems to be a great synergy with ARC and Vandersteen 5As, and I am running all balanced. Without going into too much detail, I have good image height, width and depth, good separation and definition within the image, no apparent digital grain or harshness, and a roundness to the vocals. I have auditioned both the 5s and 5As in the same room with the same electronics and the 5As are a distinctly obvious improvement on both the top and bottom.
All that being said, the 3ASig/2Wq combination is very good and very reasonably priced, and would raise your current performance. You could go this route with the 5As in your future and have little trouble turning that equipment over later via AGON.