ARC Ref 210...tube virgin

I believe the ARC design team feels fuses on output power tubes cause an unacceptable loss of sound quality in their amps. They prefer to sacrifice a resistor (or more) to protect the rest of the amp rather than sacrifice the loss in sq they have found fuses to cause in their amps. It is up to the consumer to decide if they want to own and maintain an amp so designed. There are, after all, other real good sounding power amps which DO have fused output tubes, not requiring repair every time a power tube fails!

 I have a very similar system. Audio Research Ref 5se, Ref 110 and Sonus Faber Elipsa SE speakers.

 The Elipsa SEs don't need the extra power of the Ref 210s. i would opt for a Ref 150. Especially for a tube newbie. My Ref 110 has no problem driving them. If i remember correctly, they are rated at 92db..

 A tube preamp will make much more of an impact on the sound. If i only had one tube component in my system it would be the preamp. Tube preamps also need a lot less attention. You can always move to a tube amp later.

 If you want to replace your amp first, I would go with something solid state like a Pass 60.8. The Elipsa SEs are 4 ohm speakers.  The 60.8 is rated at something like a 120 watts into 4 ohms before it ever leaves class A. It also is a superb match with the Elipsa SEs as well as Audio Research preamps.

The Audio Research Ref 110, 150 and 150se are all easy to bias. I have never had a resistor pop in my Ref 110. But it does happen. I have had maybe 2 pop in the last 20 years. It takes a violent tube failure to pop one, not just the normal tube failing. You don't need to send the amp back to Audio Research. Almost all dealers can easily do it in house or have a service guy who will do it.

I suggest a used Ref 150 or 150SE. IMHO both will outperform the Ref 210s in virtually all areas except dimensionality in which monos always beat stereo and perhaps (not really sure) ultimate power if you play at 100dbs which I never do. I had the Ref 210s in house against the Ref 110s and the 210s were perhaps 10% better in only one or two aspects that matter to most listeners at normal or even fairly loud (say, 95 dbs) listening.
The biggest improvement over the 110s by far was in stage width and depth----again---perhaps 10%. But since ARC is famous for that very characteristic, among others, I  felt I had enough with the Ref 110 and went with it at the time due to the cost/value relationship.
Having since moved on to the Ref 150 and then adding KT 150s a year later, I can say without qualification that the Ref 150 and 150SE downright smoke the Ref 110 and 210 monos. The difference being more in the range of 25% or more precision, transparency, palpability, texture..I could go on and on. I would go so far as to say that it is my favorite ARC component of all time---and I've had a few.  In comparison the Ref 210s lack drive and are a but whispery in their presentation.
Read the reviews of the Ref 150 when it came out and you will be able to glean from the reviews this same conclusion re the latest generation of ARC amps being far superior in most important aspects relative to the prior generation.