a few months ago i bought my wife a soma double cross from
here. that was the best price i found on the interwebs. it's tange prestige steel, with compact geometry. she loves it. i was really impressed with it too, especially for the price. according to soma's
geomety page, the 50 c-t has an effective tt of 548.
a surly crosscheck would probably work for you as well. also, my friend is considering the jamis nova which is steel and i think available as a frameset. looking at the geometry charts, it seems the smaller sizes are somewhat compact as well. i'm sure there's more, but those few came to mind.