Which apples taste the most like pears? Red Delicious, or Granny Smiths, or....?! If you like pears have a friggin' pear, why eat some imitation that is supposed to duplicate some of the qualities of one while diluting the taste with its own character. OK, so you're looking for something unique...the quest for the holy grail which posesses all qualities....Unfortunately the few tube amps I've heard that put out significant power don't really exhibit the qualities I love most about tubes which is the sense of airiness and holography they can impart to musical reproduction, along with that magical midrange you seek. I've also heard several of the ML amps mentioned (including two all-ML systems extensively) and absolutely none of them sounded tubelike to me (that comparison is also surprising to me). They had plenty of bass slam though, and speed and detail in spades. But none had the palpability of tubes that gets me where I live. If you just have to have apples that taste like pears well then I'd say Pass Labs Aleph series does a pretty good job, and would likely meet your criterium as far as mixing together the qualities of the sound of each. The Aleph 5 was the closest I've heard to that description, but it does not have nearly as much power as you ask for. At the power you need you'd be limited to the more expensive Aleph 1 (150wpc) or 2's (100wpc) which are both mono designs (used they would go for about $3500-5500 a pair for either with the 1's being more expensive). I guess if you really need the power you should check out their X series, as previously suggested, on which I cannot comment as I've not heard them. Don't necessarily rule out biamping because you haven't got a slot in your rack. Just put the amps on amp stands or sandboxes near (behind or beside) your speakers with a shorter speaker run and longer interconnect from pre to amp. You may even find that that works better with your system.
Good luck in your quest.
Marco
