Well it's been a good and bad day. Speakers and amps arrived, though my dealer only shipped me one of the stands...Boo! He is kindly overnighting it too me, but it is a bit of a bummer. Can't really assess the sound without them both being at the same height and with different rake angles, etc. New interconnect is coming tomorrow as well, so should have some better feedback tomorrow, plus the amps and speakers will have some time on the clock which should help... From what I can make out, the EL34 has an extraordinarily immediate presence about it, especially in 35 watt Triode mode. Very pretty sound. :-)
So far, I am in love with these speakers. A big improvement over the Olympica II I had previously.