Mike, I get what you are saying re valve amps but I think your issue with them has been compounded by the Audio Note's shortcomings, not the amps.
With the right speakers valve amps can give a powerful, dynamic sound with plenty of bass although admittedly it can be tricky to get right though. The speakers you have are considered superb for acoustic reproduction and indeed Jazz (as you have eluded to). They do place texture and timbre above nearly all else sonic-wise so other important (although less to some people) characteristics of a speakers 'signature' are missing, even compared to a lot of far less expensive examples.
For a lot of people this is okay as they may only listen to the kind of music that the speakers excel with but it does limit your musical genres somewhat.
As with a lot of things hifi its horses for courses due to the limitations of speaker design. I would say the AN's are more 'compromised' than most in the pursuit of convincingly reproducing one or two particular types of music extremely well (maybe better than nearly all others).
As you say if you're willing to swap the speakers out when you feel like it then that's fine but the amp is not the problem here. Get some more well rounded and less 'compromised' speakers and a lot of things missing from the AN's should return, plus, if you choose carefully you might just get a large dose of what the AN's offer too!
System 1: - Amp - Musical Paradise MP-701 mk2 - Neurochrome 686
- Source: Audio Technica LP-5 - Custom 6V6 stage - Novafidelity X30 - Soekris 1421 (LPSU) - Custom TDA1541 C3G DAC -
- Speakers: Martin Logan Prodigy's - Subs: - REL T3's -
System 2 - Amp: Musical Paradise MP 303/Custom 300B SET - Custom 6SL7 Pre -
- Source: Pioneer N-30K - SONCOZ SGD1 -
- Speakers: Loth X BS1's - Sub: REL T3 -