Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

22.5' is not a bit bigger then 18.5'. It's only 4' but it makes a big difference. My length is my issue. I made a mistake not going 23' long. I find I can't get the speakers far enough off the front wall to allow the ports to breath and stay far enough away from the speakers to make them sound good. I'm sure it's my overall dimensions and my construction, but thus far anything new that I have tried that is rear ported sets off the nodes in the room something fierce and is overwhelmingly boomy; no matter where I place them. Bottom or front ported is fine, as is sealed.

There are plenty of great options that are bottom or front ported, or sealed. So I'm good to go. I just need to pick my favorite. The Coltane Tenor is stunning! But mucho bucks! I'm just trying to find a less expensive option that gets me to the same place that the Tenor does. We shall see.

Paul - also, thanks for the suggestion. I have the soffit stuffed full of insulation. With down or front porting, I have no base issues. Clean, tight, extended base down to about 23hz. Measured. I do have some more diffusion coming next week to manage my side wall reflections a bit better. But with the right speaker, my room sings now.

In fact, although they were not my favorite speaker I did measure an absolutely flat curve from 23hz to 21khz with the Lawrence Audio Double Bass in the room. Also proved to me that perfectly flat doesn't mean musical and engaging. Although one of my friends thought they were the cats Meow.....

Have you listened to the SONUS FABER OLYMPIC 111 ? Have not heard it my self, but a lot of favorable on line comments. The port is located on the side of the speaker, (not the rear), so it might be an option. Not to expensive either (15k I believe).

CHEERS.....

Olympic III only goes down to 35hz. The Amati Futura and the Strad are amazing. But neither integrate well into my room with their port location.

The Nola Metro Gold's arrived today. I listened briefly. As expected, the rear ports activate the room and pull the room into the equation. With the bottom or front port the room is silent, it's there but neither adds nor detracts from the music. The two low frequency drivers are listed as 6.5" in the specs but I measure them as 5 3/4" edge to edge. They measure in the specs to 25hz. Audibly they do that, but the visceral sensation of low frequency extension is not truly there; it is coming from their interaction with the room as opposed to directly from the speakers. Its reliance on the room to augment extension is exacerbated in my room with my nodal issue. The reason it's not as bad as some of the other speakers is that the speaker doesn't extend as forcefully as, say, my Der Muzik's. They have refinement and finesse in the low frequencies and aren't lacking. But they don't punch and have impact like I am after.

The rest is, at least on first listen, rather musical and engaging. The ribbon has shown me no sign of harshness or shrill behavior and the mids are proper, layered and just on the warm side of neutral.

I'll keep you updated on their progress. The amps and preamp were cold.

Matt- remind us if your speaker auditions include both analog and digital front end? Which do you rely on most for speaker auditions? Is your DAC still the Overdrive SE?

Regards, Josh