having lost my larger listening room to a relative on an extended stay, I was forces to revamp my listening habits to adapt to the smallish confines of my home office. With roughly a 10'X9' space to work with, a nearfield system would be necessary. I convinced myself that Headphone Listening was going to be my norm, and the monitors would suffice when I wanted to do some work, without serious listening. The whole single ended experience has caused me to completely rethink what musical reproduction is all about. The Audio Note CD2 is one example of older technology besting some of the current digital darlings. The reliable and ever rhythmic LP12 has a super sensuality with the Haddcock unipivot arm and Goldring G1042 cartidge installed. It makes beautiful music through the phono stages (to Tape outs) of the APT HOLMAN Preamp all the way into my AES SE-1 Sig. modified by CARY to integrated amp status. They added a voltage divider circuit (for Headphones)and a high quality passive attenuator. The Headphones now receive their amplification through the amp outputs. I have chosen Sovtek 2A3 output tubes for their musical emotion and holographic presentation. You can use 300Bs if you like, one of the neat things about the SE-1. The Loth X ions are little known monitors that are 94dB efficent and can play on 1 watt to ear splitting levels.I read about them in Listener Magazine. The folded transmission line gives more than acceptable frequency response and maintains the musical aura of this system. With a little over 2,400 invested ( mostly in the Source components), I have a multi purpose system that plays my music with more rhythm, pace, and smoothness than my $7000 Thiel,Plinius,Theta Miles system of 2 years ago. I can also listen any time day or night. Where will this new journey take me?? Who knows.