Thanks for your kind response @tube fanatic!
I have not tried the Fortes with another amp or vice versa. Though I have changed to the 4ohm ports. I noticed a very slight difference, but I still found the overall experience shouty on one hand, and lacking slam/ oomph on the other. I feel like perhaps there is no leeway for the amp to "breathe" because it's a 2x 40w PP amp, and it gets very loud upon the lightest touch of the volume knob up from zero. That's why I thought perhaps a low power single-ended triode amp would smooth out such characterises, with these speakers I don't really need more than a few watts and it's almost like such a powerful amp is going to waste.
The thing that puzzles me is how despite this amp being relatively powerful (for a tube amp), and the Forte elements being so large + passive radiator, there is barely any kick, definition or power to the bass.
I thought perhaps rolling the stock Chinese tubes to another brand / type will help taming the highs and tightening/boosting the lows, this might be my next step.
Nevertheless, I'm not gonna lie, I am quite intrigued by the Single-ended side of things.
What are your thoughts ?