Please note this is an archived page. This product is now discontinued and replaced by the KENTO Carbon loudspeaker.
Vandersteen Audio's Model 5A Carbon is the latest evolution of the classic Model 5 and the ultra-competitive little brother to the flagship Model Seven. What separates the 5A Carbon from previous iterations of the 5 Series are its carbon-fiber midrange and tweeter drivers, which are descended directly from the patented Perfect-Piston drivers developed for and used in the flagship Model Seven. These carbon drivers are the result of an unprecedented 10-year research & development effort.
Vandersteen Audio has done its best to photograph these wood finishes on each product page, but please know that while the woods we receive from our vendors are unfailingly high in quality, no two pieces of wood are ever exactly alike. This is dictated by nature. We promise that your speakers will look gorgeous, but not that they will precisely match the photos you see on our website or on our dealers’ in-store demo speakers.
Click HERE to see the complete truth about pistonic driver cones!
"The Vandersteen 5A Carbon is one of the best speakers I have heard ... I'm excited enough about the 5A Carbons to make them my new reference speakers ..."
- Anthony H. Cordesman, The Absolute Sound
Vandersteen Audio’s Model 5A Carbon is the latest evolution of the classic Model 5 and the ultra-competitive little brother to the flagship Model Seven. The Models 5 and 5A reigned at the top of the Vandersteen line for over a decade, exemplifying many of Richard Vandersteen’s most radically effective design principles. The 5 Series have always been time- and phase-correct speakers that push the technological edge, with extreme-performance features that include an ultra-rigid, constrained-layer head section with Minimum-Baffle construction, a 400-watt powered-bass section with 11-band room EQ, passive high-pass filters and a highly advanced, completely proprietary 12” push-pull subwoofer driver.
What separates the 5A Carbon from previous iterations of the 5 Series are its carbon-fiber midrange and tweeter drivers, which are descended directly from the patented Perfect-Piston™ drivers developed for and used in the flagship Model Seven. These carbon drivers are the result of an unprecedented 10-year research & development effort by Richard Vandersteen. While the Perfect-Piston midrange and tweeter used in the flagship Model Seven are the fully embodied ideal of Vandersteen’s carbon driver technology, the Model 5A Carbon is a paragon of high-frequency air and extension, midrange openness and resolution, and the kind of tight, tuneful deep bass that only a powered-bass speaker with integral room EQ can provide. The Model 5A Carbon is Richard Vanderteen’s Dimensional Purity concept taken to the extreme!
Model 5A Carbon Specifications
Tweeter
1” Exclusive Dual-Chamber, Transmission-Line Loaded Carbon Dome with Ferrofluid Voice-Coil Cooling
Rear-Firing Tweeter
.75" Ceramic-Coated Alloy Dome
Midrange
4.5” Patented Perfect Piston™ Midrange with 3-Layer Carbon Fiber/Balsa/Carbon Fiber Cone, Die-Cast Aerodynamic Basket with Neo-Magnet Assembly and Ferrofluid Voice-Coil Cooling
Mid-Woofer
7" Mineral-Filled Poly/Kevlar Sandwich Cone with Die-Cast Basket and Precision-Formed Magnet Assembly with Copper Faraday Ring
Subwoofer
Dual 12" Trussed-Aluminum Cones, Dual-Motor, Push-Pull Driver with Die-Cast Aerodynamic Basket with Precision-Machined Opposing Magnet Assemblies with Copper Faraday Rings
"The Vandersteen 5A Carbon is one of the best speakers I have heard, as well as one of the most practical. I would definitely short-list it if you can afford it, and I’d make an upgrade a critical priority if I owned an earlier Model 5 or 5A ..."
"I could continue with additional superlatives but an audition would be better than another thousand words. I think this is the best speaker system available regardless of price. I put my money where my mouth is and bought a pair for myself. Although I’ve probably owned more speakers than most people, I suspect that this is my last pair."
"The Vandersteen Model 5 is a landmark product not because it establishes some performance benchmark in specific areas, but because it adeptly combines strengths in every area to create an immensely musical experience."
Combining Science, Music and Home Theater the VCC- 5 Reference Center speaker sets new standards. The VCC-5 Reference Center was developed for use with Vandersteen's Quatro Wood CT, Model 5A Carbon and Model Seven speakers in high-performance multi-channel systems.
The Vandersteen VSM-1 is an advanced surface-mount loudspeaker optimized for the unique requirements of the rear channel positions in a multi-channel audio/video system. It was developed and refined by twenty years of intensive research into loudspeaker design and multiple speaker integration. Its innovative engineering, superior components and quality construction provide true high fidelity performance.
Vandersteen Model 2W series subwoofers augment the deep bass response of a stereo or home theater speaker system. They provide the power, dynamics and low-frequency detail required for superlative reproduction of music and film. In addition to assuming the responsibility for deep bass reproduction, both of these subwoofers dramatically improve the mid-bass and midrange response of any speaker system. It couples advanced materials, construction and design with innovative technology in a system that is always true to the emotion and content of the original sonic source.