Opinions on the Nola Contender please

Hi Kiwi,
I replaced my Focal Scala Utopia. I did not want to sell them but the size of my music room is now smaller thanks to our new economy. They were tough shoes to fill. The Nola Contender IMHO is going to be very tough to beat. I cant wait for them to get here! The cool thing is I will feel no sense of loss. I have heard alot of great speakers in the size and price on my hunt for the perfect speaker for me. Nothing sounded amazing until I heard the Nolas!
I will post a short review after arrival.

Please throw away all your reviews of speakers and go listen to them. My equipment includes:
MBL 6010d Pre
Audio Research PH7 phonostage(changed all the tubes
rogue M-180 monos(Amazing for any price!)changed input tubes
VPI Classic with AirTight PC-1 cartridge
Nordost Valhalla everywhere
Shunyata Power and Cords

Hi Bstefano,

Congratulations on the purchase. It would be something special indeed if the Contenders could fill the shoes of the Focal's. I have already listened to the Contenders once but they were not fully broken in and the bass was not as extended as I’d like. The manufacturer does not provide any reference points for its frequency response specification so one doesn't really know from paper what potential exists and whether the manufacturer is exaggerating claims. I will be going back for another listen soon. In the meantime I eagerly await your short review - one which I won't be throwing away :-)

I now have a pair of Nola Contenders on audition. I need to be patient as they break in. My very initial observation however was one of surprise at how low the bass can go. Seems Nola was not exaggerating about the "usable response to 25Hz."!

Oh, and one other observation before I shut up, the designer believes these speakers don't need toe in due to the wide dispersion characteristics of the tweeter. In the context of my system and room I most respectively disagree. Some toe in further enhances the soundstage depth and instrument localisation, which was already good with the speakers firing straight down the room.

I had a chance to listen to these this week. I was pretty
excited after all the good press I'd read. They were in a
room directly next to a pair of Focal Aria speakers of a
similar price (I hadn't head either speaker at that point).
The salesman threw on the Focals first...Sounded pretty good
(both speakers were being fed by the sames source
components: an iPod dock and McIntosh integrated amp; no
fancy cabling). Then, I asked to hear the Nolas and man, I
was totally disappointed. Compared to the Focals, they Nolas
were flat-no life, and they didn't image particularly well.
They reminded me a lot of the Acoustic Zen Addagios I heard
years back (another disappointment-placed next to Dali
Helicons which put the Zens to shame). Compared to my
current speakers, the Monitor Audio RX6 (and a Monitor Audio
sub woofer on occasion), I didn't feel that either the Focal
or Nola was worth three times the RX6's price.