I actually came this close to purchasing a used pair of ARC 160Ms last year. I am really enjoying the Vitus amp, especially in combination with my Octave tube preamp. But an ARC big iron tube amp is always on the wish list. Maybe some day.
Pulling the speakers further into the room allowed me to experience better soundstage depth and layering, albeit, at the expense of a slight reduction in bass response. But I'm happy with that tradeoff.
By the way, I ended up replacing my Meitner MA3 dac with Merging Technologies _NADAC + Power combo. It has exceeded my expectations and then some more.