CHANGING FROM AUDIO RESEARCH TO AUDIO NOTE SYSTEM 

@ghasley ,

great point! We are on the same page about the REF5SE. This thread is being very useful to clear my ideas about the right move. I believe having a Shindo is difficult here in Portugal. It’s a dream and I believe I coud import it directly from Germany, but it’s risky without hearing it first. I believe Art Dudley reviewed the Sophia’s with a Shindo 25W amp and loved them. But it’s risky not to have a dealer in Portugal for service. 
 

I can try the AN E with a P3 Silver, which was my initial thought and see how it works. I believe I manage to have a demo in my room. And if one day an used M6 appears on the market ( I missed one for two days) I’ll get it. This move will allow me to keep the value of the ref 5 SE and if the demo goes fine have a starting point on the for the move to SET’s

Hi about a year ago i made a similar system change like you plan too. Going from a moderate efficient speakers and huge SS  monoblocks to High efficient speakers and to single ended tube monoblocks. (80W/8Ohm)

I think its likely easier to find superb sounding poweramps with small wattage than superb sounding mega wattage poweramp. 
you are looking at the right path, I am Sorry i didnt do it years ago.

Like many already wrote i too think the ARC Ref5 s.e. is a great preamp but i would strongly recomend to drive it with DR tubes and a good fuse as well as Stillpoints Ultra 6. (Like the rest of the equipment)

I had both the 40th Anniversary and the Ref 10 and they really excelled with these tweaks.

Another isue is weather you will go ballanced or singleended all the way.

My speakers are 100db/1W 8 ohm flat but still like min 80-100Wclass A or min 150AB if i want to shake the house so i would warn about too small amps if you like volumen at live levels.

Stay away from 4 Ohm speaker they stress the amps too much and best if you have min 10 db headroom, this eases the sound pretty much and huge trancients are played with ease.

Therefore IMHO all AN speaker are all too small and so are there poweramps.
Happe lisining
 

Therefore IMHO all AN speaker are all too small and so are there poweramps.

A sweeping broad brush statement if there ever was one. 😊 A clear example of to each their own.

Charles

@pfmaudio

an interesting experiment for you try, just for fun. A friend had a difficult room setup and had his Sasha Daws in a room that required placement closer to a wall/corner. They were boomy and completely overloaded the room, tonal balance all wonky. We devised a plan and fitted a flexible hose from a shop vacuum securely into the rear firing Wilson port and rerouted the port output to the front. The hose for each speaker was then terminated into a repurposed subwoofer enclosure where he could adjust the bass by adjusting the quantity of dampening fill in the enclosure. It shouldnt have worked well…but he still uses the contraption. People always ask what brand of subwoofer…LOL. Its an easy experiment to see if you can reclaim some floor space without losing the music.

This might give you some idea of room gain adjustability that your particular corners will project.

@thastum What monoblock SET amps provide 80WPC? The highest wattage SET I'm aware of use 845 tube which may provide somewhere around 20WPC.