I totally agree with you — it’s unforgivable to me they don’t list a dealer network. No excuse for that in any way. You have to call or email to find a dealer, which is just absurd in this day and age, and I even wrote them an email about it about 6 months ago. But, when you do call (at least when they listed a phone#) you’re likely to speak directly with Jeff Joseph, and he’s great when you talk to him. Also, they’ve been around for about 30 years or so and I don’t think over that time I’ve heard a negative comment on reliability or service so I’m sure they’ve got it worked out somehow. What prompted my comment was if you melded the best qualities of your experience with the A5 and Atrias you’d have the Pearls (although I think the Pearls image/soundstage/disappear even better than Rockports). In truth, I’m not sure you got a great audition of the A5s and sounds like there may have been a setup issue of some kind, but I agree with your assessment of Rockports, especially in the treble — they tend to be a little too laid back for me in that region although otherwise great-sounding speakers (I heard them with Boulder amp/pre and top MSB DAC BTW). I also got to hear the Q7 with Vitus monoblock amps/pre (forget the DAC) and though I greatly respected them they didn’t seem to capture the “soul” of the music to really suck me in. I honestly don’t think you could go wrong with the DAW, but I also wouldn’t buy them without at least hearing the Pearls because from what you’ve said I think they do everything you’re looking for in spades. Also, they’re not nearly as persnickety to set up as Wilsons are — they of course benefit from better placement, but you don’t have to have JA set them up or sweat 1mm movements to get the sound dialed in, and I also think they’re easier to drive. Plus, at least to my eye, they’re very attractive speakers and not likely to raise girlfriend issues, so there’s that (although I personally like the aesthetics of Wilson’s speakers too, short of the monstrous Alexandrias and up). Again, FWIW.
