Opinions on why this system is uninvolving

I woud look into upgrading the speaker cables the Prime are a good budget cable but not up to the level of your system.I recently borrowed a pair of Tara Ref. Gen IIs from my dealer and they sound very nice. They would also add a little warmth to balance out your Ravels as they can sound cold at a times.Better Yet try the Tara Air 2 speaker cables.They are neutral yet slightly warm and will help to flesh out the sound.Good luck.

Bwhite: I tried everything you suggested and it made a significant difference. Its still not completely there,b ut much better. The EAD transport surprised me. What do you think, by the way, of the Audiomeca DAC?

Stehno, you say that I must be wrong on the Vandy 5's in how they sound, assuming that I must not have listened long enough, while admitting that you do not know what my experience is and have no experience yourself beyond what other people have told you, ie no experience? Interesting approach to an argument, but if you simply have to believe that Vandy's have the spatial and harmonic sophistication of some others based upon a conversation with a manufacturer - not always a good place to look for objective opinion - then ok, I'll be happy for you. Vandy 5's are nice speakers and I would recommend them to many people, but given the poster's sterilty sensitivity, which implies a strong need for sophisticated harmonics and spatial continuity, I believe he should look beyond Vandersteen.

Glad that tweeking has helped, Znak. Now, look at the wires, but don't go nutty - bwhite can help you there too. I still think in the end you will move away from the Revels. Talk to bwhite about his pre and its effects on his system.

Znak_m, the EAD is good isn't it? It's mysterious how other MUCH more expensive transports can be completely blown away by this thing. When it comes to digital, I've had them all and the EAD transport (T-7000) absolutely smoked everything else - even when using lesser DACs.

Now.. the Audiomeca DAC (I suppose you mean the Enkianthus) is amazing. Talk about involving! Its very relaxed sounding and very emotional. Its not a "get up and dance" type of sound but it is certainly magical. That DAC (or an Audio Note) combined with the EAD would be MY choice for the top player right now. Better than AudioAero, Accuphase, EMC-1, etc. and much less expensive. The soundstage from that EAD goes through the walls!

Cables will be your next step after your source is nailed down.

Asa, thanks for the compliment on my "interesting approach to an argument". However, I did not make it up. I saw it in another thread.

In all seriousness. You say you found the Vandersteen's Model 5 are too sterile, etc. Yet, this impression has been reported to be quite common on shorter auditioning periods for the Vm5's.

Yet others that have thoroughly listened to them also can rate them so highly, including Peter Moncrief of IAR who basically tied them with another much more expensive speaker as the most highly rated dynamic driver speaker system.

I have not read (though I'm sure they exist) any professional reviewer speak in the negative sense of the Vm5's as you have. In fact, I've only read positive to very positive things for all Vandersteen models.

As I clearly stated, I've not heard the Vm5's myself, and I certainly don't put too much stock into what most of the professionals may say, but there is also no reason to give you more credence than they especially since you are providing much less information than they. And especially when there's not much on paper or quotes from others to substantiate your claim.

You may be 100% correct, but I think the odds are not in your favor.

Of course, it would certainly help to understand your position by describing your current system, your personal preferences, and finally the system, room, music, and duration of time used for the audition.

Would you care to share that info?