[Jerome W]

Ok folks, many good thoughts here. Thanks a lot !

Serge, I'm not sure if I 'm prepared to shop for new speakers if Shindo amps don't match mine. It does not seem very logical to me.
As many here, I think that the logical way to do in audio is to find speakers that you like, and then find the correct amp(s) to drive them.

I cannot ignore Matt's recommendations and yet my experience with low power amps with the EB1i tells me that the 70 W Class A CCQ should be more than enough to drive them the way that I want to.

I haven't been clear about my goal with this project so here I go.

There is nothing wrong to me with the sound of the 2301's. Most of the time, I listen at moderate volumes. Yesterday night, I was listening at Patricia Barber's Fortnight in France, and I wanted to crank the volume up to peaks of 300 W but it does not happen often.
My goal is to have the choice of an other flavor, an other sound, but still with my speakers, as I can't put multiple speakers side by side.

In june, I tried the Verdier 845 Triode Spirit : SET of 20 W in class A. It was able to reach high levels of SPL, although much less than the 2301's.
They were fast, involving and grain free. Indeed they sounded more musical and refined to my ears, for music only without vocals, than the 2301's. The sound was more direct, more alive, yet highly refined. Completely intoxicating. Certainly not as neutral as the 2301's but giving me more pleasure. I was about to write the check for them and was fully under their charm when I listened to a cd of Diana Krall and realized that I did not recognize her ! After many cds and lps of female singers, it was obvious that although things were wonderful for music only, the voices were all presented a tone higher than in the real life. All singers were like 10 to 20 years younger + leaner. The Mcs were head and shoulders above the Verdier for voice reproduction on my speakers. Maybe due to a problem of impedance matching, I don't know. Strange because things were ok for bass and treble. I would not have suspected a problem of impedance for the mids. I told this story to my friend Jean Marc and he immediately said : " the McIntosh mids are the best I know. You won't find better elsewhere if you like this sound".

I told about this to a dealer in Paris who sells highly musical amps and speakers, among them Leben, Ear, Nagra, Verity Audio and he told me this : you always loose a certain degree of finesse and musicality with high power amps. He's willing to let me try at home the Nagra 845 PushPull class A. 2 x 50 W. I asked about their sound to Massimo, a member here that owns both the Nagra amps and the 2301's and he told me that although he did not make an A / B test, the Nagra sounded more refined to his ears compared to the 2301's but of course, less powerful.

All this story reminded me of the will of that dealer to let me the Nagra 845's in my home. This is not often for such gear in France. My ARC dealer, which I bought the Ref2 from a month ago, and my Clearaudio TT told me that he could make a demo of the Ref 5 in my home but could not let it to me for a few days !
I cannot ignore both the kindness of this Nagra dealer and the 845 amps. If they sing the way I want on my speakers, then I may end up buying them or trying the Shindo CCQ ( the Shindo idea will continue to torture me until I hear one ! ). If the Shindo is not my cup of tea, I will sell them and buy the 845.
I'm a bit reluctant to do that because this dealer is so kind and professionnal that I feel it would not be fair to him if I try the 845 and finally end up ordering the CCQ. Maybe I could tell him all the story and propose him to pay for the tryout of the 845 if I don't buy them finally ?

Ordering a Shindo preamp is a no no at this time. Too complicated to have 2 preamps in my system. Monoblocks are much easier to switch.