Vandersteen 5Aa Carbon--any 5a owner's opinions?

Thanks Chargerfan. If only the 7s were somewhere around the $30K mark, it might be a consideration for me. If the Carbon upgrade would really take the 5A halfway to the same level it would be a steal IMO.

I do wonder though if there may ever be an updated version of the 5A with all of the carbon fiber drivers, 5A Carbon Sig? Pure conjecture of course, and the price would certainly inch closer to the Model 7.

Just wondering, but isnt the 5A discontinued, and now the 5A carbon has taken its place in the line up?

The 5A is still listed on the Vandersteen price section at $19,000/pair. The 5A Carbon is at $24,000. The 7 takes you to $48,000. The slope steepens quickly. This is why if the carbon upgrade indeed gives half the improvement as the jump to the 7 it's a relative bargain.

Don't forget there is always the possibility that you could sell your 5as. I traded mine in when I bought the 7s. This helped put me in the ball park of the
kind of price you are talking about. I'm a retired teacher in California, not exactly
Donald Trump. I listen to alot of live music. When I heard the 7s I was hearing
the kind of sound that I hear at the live event. Yes, the price of the 7s is quite
a bit more than the 5a, but the carbon and driver technology used in the 5a carbon and 7 cost much more as did the research and development that went
into the creation of that speaker. Even without the trade in, I would have found some way to purchase the 7 or the 5a Carbon. It was worth that much to me. Just a thought.

Sonofjim, TY for restarting this.

After almost 2 years, I love these 5As more than ever. I've improved one trio of bypass caps in the very complicated crossovers, replacing one pair of Dynamicaps with MultiCap TRXs pypassed with small SoniCap Platinums, and another Dynamicap with a 1 big Platinum. Speakercable is a 3-size wind of Neotec UPOCC solid silver on the upper freqs. and a 3-size wind of silver-and-copper Neotec UPOCC for the lower freqs. I went thru several quads and pairs of poweramps and quit looking when I connected a pair of McCormack DNA-750s. Of course, I had to improve the '750s, and they sound even better. I've since improved a bunch of IC, too, and my system sounds so transparent, so real, so natural, so you-are-there I can hardly believe it.

Maybe 5A Carbons sound better, but at age 69, I suspect my days of spending big bucks to improve my system are about over.
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