Who has Audio Note AN-Es?

The 5a4 is not a direct replacement for the 5ar4. The 5r4 wants to see no more than 10uf in the first power supply cap. It also drops a lot more voltage than the 5ar4 so if you use it the voltages in your tube amp will be very low. Once I realized how good the 5r4 sounded I had to re design the power supply for optimal performance.
Charles I listened to many speakers in my price range I liked these best. Of course there are always compromises...I also new I wanted to use a SET amp and they can be placed close to the wall in my smallish Brooklyn apartment. My speaker had to play all types of music too and I found out during my search that alway isn't the case for all speakers. I have heard 2nd hand that the paper woofers have a more engaging deeper  bass and the hemp silver speakers have a more detailed mid and extended highs.

This speaker is also high on my want list. Has anyone paired them with a Primaluna Dialogue Premium or something similar or do they like lower power SET amps?

What I find near fascinating about this speaker is the vast number of variations due to the multitude of options.  There's a HE (high efficiency) version, internal vs external crossover,  silver vs copper wiring and voice coil  and woofer driver material. 

Jet, how did you sort through the many choices to decide which one best suited you? I don't doubt that this is a very good speaker. I wonder how much the silver wire and/or voice coil changes the sound,  or say hemp compared to the paper drivers. 
Charles 

jetrexpro,

Yes the Tulip is a 2A3 SET, and uses a 5AR4 rectifier. I am currently running an NOS Mullard, which I've been very happy with. I'll have to look into the 5R4GB, though. Is it a direct replacement for the 5AR4?

Is your amp a 2a3 SET? I own AN-e LX HE's for about 4 years and love them. They play all types of music with emotion. And like you as I make changes to my system and amp they respond letting me know if I have gone in the right direction. I recently went from 5ar4 rectifiers to 5r4gb potato masher rectifiers in my amp. These are the same rectifiers used in some of Audio Notes level 5 amps and I could not believe the how these speakers totally came alive with texture and 3 dimension sound that I did not know they were capable. These speakers are keepers. I used to think Devore o96 had better texture and musicality but as I improve my front end the ANe's have shown how good they are. they don't need to be placed into corners. They can sound great away from the corners. The mid range comes totally alive when you dial in their placement.