SET vs OTL

Jet,

I find that the upper bass on the AN-E, as well as other Audio Note models, can be a bit bloated, but, it is a very musically enjoyable speaker so, if that is a flaw, so what?  I am not as big a fan of the 300b as I am of other small triodes (2a3 and 45) because the upper bass and lower midrange is a bit overblown.  But, as you demonstrated, things can be tuned to ameliorate these sort of issues.

I have heard an OTL on the AN-E SEC and the sound was fantastic.  I think it would be worth your effort to find an OTL to try in your system.  The Atmasphere M-60 should be a good candidate.  It is on the slightly leaner side, so it would not exacerbate the tendency of the AN-E to sound a bit bloated.  All three M-60s I've heard had a slight bit of buzz or hum, but, given that the AN-E is not extremely efficient, I doubt that this noise will be much of an issue.  

Would be great to hear on OTL in my listening room someday.

Larryi, I should have mentioned that I agree with you that even with the flaws of the AN-e's they are just so musical and emotionally involving that I cant imagine selling them, ever. I've had them for four years and even when I hear systems or speakers that sound better than what I have, I am almost never tempted to upgrade. The 300b is a warm tube but its got some power and in my room and system some slam and good extension in the low and high frequencies.

I would say that a well designed SET 2A3/300B  has the warm sound than also well designed an OTL having the same output wattage.

The one thing that I might add is that 300b tubes can sound very different depending on design and manufacturer. Some 300b tubes sound much more linear than others. Conversely, my experience with different 2a3  tubes (while admitedly more limited than my experience with many different 300b) suggests that they are more alike than different.