Put your favorite EL34's into a Cary SA 280 V12 with a good recording and some great matching speakers and you will hear and feel the piano as amazingly live in your room. This Cary will go from ultralinear to full triode in 1/3rd increments ( on the fly) and you'll find your sweetspot somewhere in there...It also does KT's and lots of other tubes too but for what you described, go with the EL 34's. Good luck and happy Lissn'n.
Liquid Midrange' - strong side of which tube amps?
I wonder if anybody can name tube amps with distinguished 'liquid' midrange. I myself can name just one – Octave Audio V 70 integrated. We listened to Steve Kuhn trio with Joe Lovano recording, and you could feel that absolutely real flow of the sound of piano. How it moves and fills the room in waves. But not all tube amps I listened to, produce this kind of sound. I specifically interested in integrateds. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience!