Beauty of Amati is in the integration. Vandersteen 5 is nice, but it's also a problem by leaving the owner to tune bass freq and output. If tuning those two parameters were so easy, why would anyone on earth want to buy big speakers when they can buy small speakers and mate with subs? On top, small speakers have better imaging.
And I doubt there is any speaker that is truly phase correct. All Sonus Faber are tilted to time align the tweeter. Most Sonus Faber also employs 1st order x-over to retain as much phase correctness as possible. Using more passive parts like in Thiel will only create more phase problem, not correct it. It's simple electronic 101, try solving (or even guessing) 1st order vs. higher order x-over behavior with twice as many parts on paper and you will know what I mean.
I have heard both and own Amati currently. Vanersteen 5 is a "complicated" speaker with flaws that can be heard occasionally, like Amati which also possesses some flaws of its own. Overall, Amati is still more transparent and musical to my ears and definitely a winner in look as well.
