I have a very good friend who runs the 200 watt Audio Research Reference monoblock amps with Wilson Maxx II's in a purpose-built room. His other equipment is the Audio Research Reference 5 preamp and Reference 7 CD player, with very good Transparent cabling, and the entire system is carefully set up. I do not like most Audio Research tube amplifiers, as they use a lot of global negative feedback to control the circuit and generally do not permit individual biasing of output tubes (only banks of tubes can be biased, which requires impractically rigorous tube matching). I am very sensitive to feedback and have a difficult time tolerating amps that use it, and his system has the typical closed-in, dead sound that characterizes amps that use feedback. However, he recently bought a darTZeel power amp - I also use a darTZeel amp - and his system now sounds much more musical and more natural to me and to him. The Ayre MXR, like all Ayre equipment, does not use global feedback, and it shares the open, natural sound of the darTZeel.
I owned an Audio Research preamp for 15 years and an Audio Research CD player for four years - I have nothing against Audio Research - I have just never liked their amps for the reasons described above.
PS - It is interesting that the new Audio Research DS225 amp is a no-feedback design.