FWIW I did not use stands with the a5 but they sounded to me to have too much (and too flabby) bass at any listening level on my desk. I think I tried playing with the positioning at one point and still didn't like what I heard so much. I don't like to EQ so I probably could have gone that route but chose not to.
These days I have a pair of vintage NHT Super Zeros with Aurelex mopads, a Dayton dta100a t-amp, and an HSU sub - at around $400 I like it so far.
Edited by Mr.Sneis - 2/17/12 at 2:52pm
























But the A2s is perfectly for desktop, sounds just as sweet if not better for near-field listening!

