YG Carmels vs Rockport Atrias

I also think you may risk overwhelming your room with these speakers. If you go this route you should consider budgeting for substantial room treatments and perhaps even going so far as reconstructing the walls with resilient channels, etc.

That said, these are both great speakers but I'd make sure they will work with your amp since they both drop to 4 ohms or below, and I've never seen any Rockports or YGs powered by tubes at shows.

At one of the NY audio shows I got to hear the Carmels playing St. James Infirmary and they did sound quite good but just a tad boomy in a good sized room. Ironically a few doors down I heard the same song being played through Joseph Audio Perspectives in a much smaller room and I thought they sounded every bit as good as the Carmels but better balanced in the bass region (both speakers were driven by digital amps I believe). Obviously there are lots of variables here, but might be worth putting the Perspectives or maybe even the Pulsars on your radar, and they have the additional benefit of being relatively tube friendly unlike the others. That and they're considerably cheaper leaving you a good chunk of cash to deal with your room, which, as many will attest can be as important or even more so than equipment. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Two years running, I believe YG speakers were powered by Triode @Axpona. I could be wrong, there so many rooms.

I have YG Carmel in a fairly small room (12 x 15), they are phenomenal. Since they are sealed, they work well closer to the front wall than other ported designs. I kind of fell into these speakers, they continue to amaze me. I'd love to hear them with some other amps. That said, the few times I've heard Rockports I was very impressed.

Two years running, I believe YG speakers were powered by Triode @Axpona. I could be wrong, there so many rooms.

Mt10425, Acoustic Zen has been showing with Triode at many shows, maybe that's what you remember.

I wanted to share an additional loudspeaker I am now considering as well, one which I would never have considered. I visited with a gentleman/audiophile who had a listening room just a bit larger than mine at about 12 x 15 ft. He had a pair of KEF Blades he was driving with Clayton M300s and an Audio Research Reference 5 preamp, and they sounded marvelous despite the smaller room. They were quite transparent and coherent, with the music seemingly completely detached from the speakers. At normal to slightly higher listening levels the Blades did not overwhelm the room. I may now consider a Blade 2 as well! Perhaps the sole front facing coaxial driver and the virtual point source technology make this larger speaker more than acceptable in smaller rooms. Interesting:))