With respect to the question of the 5A's bass and dynamic capability: The 5A's have a dynamic advantage that outweighs any potential limitation due to 1st order crossover slopes and that is their active push-pull woofer. No passive speaker can begin to move the amount of air with the level of control and agility that the 5A's active subwoofer does, especially when properly eq'd for the room.
Passive bass from a conventional driver with a single motor sounds dynamically soft, round, and blurred by comparison, even aside from other compounding issues like a ported enclosure. Even Vandersteen's own otherwise excellent 2Wq subwoofer with its more conventional drivers cannot come close to resolving bass information like the 5A.
I sell Vandersteen and Vienna (although not the Mahlers).
Passive bass from a conventional driver with a single motor sounds dynamically soft, round, and blurred by comparison, even aside from other compounding issues like a ported enclosure. Even Vandersteen's own otherwise excellent 2Wq subwoofer with its more conventional drivers cannot come close to resolving bass information like the 5A.
I sell Vandersteen and Vienna (although not the Mahlers).