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Vandersteen 5A vs Martin Logan Prodigy

I know it is a long shot but has anyone ever done a comparison between these two speakers? Or, have owned them both and/or around them enough to give an opinion of them and how they differ.

I currently have Prodigies but am thinking of going to Vandersteen 5As to improve upon my system.

Recently, I upgraded my amps to Cary Audio 805 AEs and now the Prodigies sound much much better. My thinking was that if these sound this much better, a better speaker would just sound amazing with these amps!!

I mainly play vinyl but do have a DAC for digital play. I am looking for an articulate but romantic sound that will keep me up all night listening to one LP after another.
nak8
audioconnection
1,015 posts
 
The Cary 805 Ae Monos 8 Ohm taps Kimber Kable Select with the Vandersteen 5As are to die for.
We used this combo at one of the stereophile NY shows with 26 folks in the room .
After playing Bach toccata in fugue with this combo applause prevailed.
Try also Vivaldi Fabio Biondi 4 seasons listen to the size and clarity of wood instruments and articulation of the strings without any smearing I think you will enjoy.
Best Johnnyr
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
5,112 posts
 
One reason the 5A's sound so good is that your amps will only drive the mids and highs, allowing the power robbing lows to be directed to the built-in vandersteen amps. Therefore YOUR amps will loaf and be the best they can be. The Sound Labs are excellent speakers as well, but have an entirely different sound. I cannot say which speaker is better...its like hearing the New York Philharmonic in Carnegie Hall and in Avery Fischer Hall... You might like one over the other, but both are fine for listening to real music in real space.
nak8 OP
16 posts
 
Thanks for the input gents... this helps allot.

Microstrip - Yes, I have heard them with the Decent i. Actually, two of them as I run two in stereo with the MLs.

I was hoping that the Vandi 5As would allow me to get rid of all this equipment and simplify my system as this all takes up allot of room. But, if the Vandis don't give me the full room experience, I may continue to run the dual Decent i setup.

The Prodigies do sound nice with the Cary amps and preamp but it sometimes just sound almost fake. Maybe it is because of the sound dispersion control but it seems that box speakers fill the room more..seems more natural. Maybe I am just crazy and don't know what good sound is...

Johnny - thanks for the note on the set up...

Derrick - interesting you note about moving away from ESLs. Seems that many people do move away from them, for reasons I am not sure of but I have seen that in other threads as well.

Any additional comments would be appreciated.
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