There were multiple rows of chairs set up and admittedly I wasn't front & center. I'm not sure there ought to be a real "sweet spot" with a cavernous room and gear of that size/expense though... I suppose it all scales. I'm glad to hear you were able to listen to your own disc and use it as a benchmark, that does make a big difference. If you heard Dire Straits "Brother in Arms" blaring in a room last week (or saw a guy wandering around in shorts during CES), that was me.
I agree the 5A's sounded better than the Quattros; the question du jour is... do the 5A's sound 2x better than the Quattros? Nope, the infamous slippery slope. Do the Quattros squash anything in their price range? Um... that's hard to say because there's a lot of great speakers in the $5k to $6k range. They certainly are contenders.
What's the best "value" speaker today? Eminent Technology LFT VIII's followed very closely by the new Gallo speaker. If money was no object I'd flip a coin and either buy the Vandy 5A's, or cheat and buy a pair of SoundLabs.
I agree the 5A's sounded better than the Quattros; the question du jour is... do the 5A's sound 2x better than the Quattros? Nope, the infamous slippery slope. Do the Quattros squash anything in their price range? Um... that's hard to say because there's a lot of great speakers in the $5k to $6k range. They certainly are contenders.
What's the best "value" speaker today? Eminent Technology LFT VIII's followed very closely by the new Gallo speaker. If money was no object I'd flip a coin and either buy the Vandy 5A's, or cheat and buy a pair of SoundLabs.