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Vandersteen 5a battery biased crossovers

I've been using my 5As nearly every day for over 2 and a half years now and I feel they are the best move I ever made in audio. I researched them (and many other speakers)thoroughly before I made my purchase. I must say that everything incorporated in this design makes more sense to me than any other speaker I've encountered(Richard Hardesty's review covers this all very well for those not familiar) The one feature I still wonder about though is the battery biased crossover. How much does this help the sound? I believe that after about 5 years the battery needs to be changed on each crossover. Has anyone here had the 5A long enough that this had to be done? Did you do it yourself or does it require shipping to the factory?( I think the batteries are soldered in place to keep from rattling)Also, has anyone just let this go and not really noticed a difference?
sonofjim
sonofjim OP
557 posts
 
It makes sense to keep them operational. I just wanted to see if anyone has crossed this bridge before me. Is there anyone here that has actually changed them already and can confirm that it requires no special ability or precautions?
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,333 posts
 
I did some digging around. JBL use this Vandersteen idea in their K2 speaker. As you are probably aware capacitors vary in quality and linearity. If you bias a polypropylene cap then the distortion products (due to non-linearity) will still be there but they will all be even harmonics (more benign to our ears). Also the circuit should be such that it won't matter about the battery aging (normally connected to a 1 K or more resistor). It does mean that the circuit requires two much larger (more expensive) capacitors in series of twice the value of what you would need if you used one capacitor. Since capacitor non-linearities tend to increase with size, a lot will depend on a the careful choice of components if it is to be an improvement over a single capacitor.

It also opens the door to using polarized capacitors in a crossover although I don't think Vandersteen does this (he uses polypropylene)

Anyway - interesting stuff - I hope this helps. I have found an AES paper on this subject if you are interested.
samhar
1,034 posts
 
Ask Boobtube he had a pair of 5's that needed batteries, he pulled the units out and sent them to Vandersteen.
audioconnection
1,015 posts
 
Ion Long life type.
There is a total of 8 9V batteries you must install
one 9V in each X 5 High pass
and also three 9v in each of the speakers Internal Modular Crossover.
Make sure you are are a class act with soldering pencil as its important the 9Vs be soldered in tightly.
Removing the Back plate removing the screws and pulling out the modular Xovers then either perform yourself, Mail them out to Vandersteen Audio or Call you local Vandy dealer.
Cheers Johnnyr
sonofjim OP
557 posts
 
Thanks,
I knew this wouldn't be as simple as changing a flashlight battery. Luckily, it looks like the originals have a life of around 5-7 years so I'm jumping the gun on this more than I thought. For a while I guess I'll just continue to sit back and enjoy this fabulous speaker.
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