Hi zippo1,
Welcome and I’m glad you found us 
[quote]ABOUT ME:
Mid 50’s, 6’, 200 pounds, herniated disc often with minor (sometimes major) lower back pain. Side/back sleeper. Using 25 year-old coil/boxspring now. Wife would prefer a traditional coil/boxspring but understands in this case my needs come first.[/quote]
The most important part of buying a new mattress is that it’s a good “match” for your body type and sleeping positions so that you are maintaining good spinal and joint alignment in all your sleeping positions and that your joints and muscles can relax and the discs can rehydrate and recover from the stresses we place on them over the course of the day. While this is the most important priority for almost all people … when you have back issues then it becomes an even more important part of your choice because sleeping out of alignment can aggravate existing back issues and can prevent the normal recovery and healing process that occurs during sleep.
Unfortunately … each person is different in terms of their physiology, weight distribution, and body shape as well as the positions they sleep in, their individual preferences, and the specifics of any back issues they may experience so a mattress that is good for one person’s back (or back issues) may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on … even if their body type, sleeping positions, or back issues appear to be fairly similar.
This is why there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved for anyone to be able to predict which mattress would be the best “match” for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or “theory at a distance” (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here) and why there is no such thing as a specific type of mattress or material that is “good for backs” in general … only a mattress that is good for a specific back or person.
There is also more about primary and secondary support and their relationship to pressure relief (which is also very important with some types of back issues where there are trigger points involved) and firmness in post #4 here and in post #2 here that may help you visualize what good support/alignment and pressure relief “looks like” and may also be helpful.
In general … what you would be looking for is a mattress with firm deep support and then comfort layers that are “just enough” in terms of thickness and softness to “fill in” and support the more recessed parts of your sleeping profile and relieve pressure in your most pressure prone sleeping position (usually side sleeping for those who sleep in this position) so that there is less risk to alignment in your other sleeping positions.
There is more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here that can help you make more meaningful comparisons between mattresses and there is more about the different ways to choose a mattress (local or online) and the different ways that can help minimize the risks of each of them in post #2 here.
The choices that you have between different types of mattresses that use different materials or components (innersprings, polyfoam, memory foam, latex etc) are a matter of preference rather than a “better/worse” choice. Most types of materials and components will have lower quality and less durable versions and higher quality and more durable versions so no matter which types of mattresses or materials you tend to prefer or seem to do best with it’s always important to make sure that there are no weak links or less durable materials in the mattress that will soften or break down and lose the comfort and support that was the reason you purchased it in the first place much to quickly relative to the price you paid for the mattress.
[quote]BEDS:
Looking for Queen size with a foundation - probably on a frame to start and possibly a (platform) bed in the future. I’m prepared to spend up to $3k all-in, but prefer under $2k. Based on reading this forum, limited shopping experience, and recommendations, I am interested in the following beds. Please let me know your thoughts:
Dixie Foam - pure latex (6" natural talalay) - possibly with The Company Store Ultimate Baffled Square Featherbed
Dixie Foam - Dream bed deluxe. When i visited Dixie Foam and mentioned my back problem, this is what they stongly recommeded over their latex mattress.
Brooklyn Bedding - 10" essense or 10" total natural (both all-latex)[/quote]
All four of these mattresses use high quality and durable materials and there are no weak link in any of them so all of them would make a good choice if you are confident that they would be a good match for you in terms of PPP and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are important to you. Both manufacturers are also members of this site.
There is also more about the different types and blends of latex in this article and in post #6 here and more about the differences between Dunlop latex (which is used in the support core of the Essence) and Talalay latex (which is used in the support core of the Total Latex mattress) in post #7 here but this would also be a preference choice.
You can see my comments about Consumer reports in post #2 here and in this topic. As you can see I would consider them to be a unreliable source of mattress advice.
If you are in the New York City area then the better options or possibilities I’m aware of (subject to the value guidelines I linked earlier) are listed in post #2 here.
The Tutorial post also includes several links to the better online options I’m aware of as well (in the optional online step) which includes Brooklyn Bedding who are one of the members of this site
Phoenix