What new amp for my Merlins

Tabl,

The Six's are actually quite attractive, but just like anything else subjective. I don't batteries for my digital camera or I would.

The six pacs are even more attractive with the silver face plates. Don't let looks fool you. I owned a V12i and many Cary people preferred the six pacs to those amps. With silver face plates if looks are what concern you, these should address that issue.

Hello. I have the Filarmonia on my rack, you can have a look at my system photo's and see it right there :-) It put's out heat of course but it's not an issue at all in my current config.

I think the Amp sounds absolutely wonderful. Much more solid / full sounding than my previous 22w Single Ended amp that it replaced but not tubey sounding, just really believable. It has very good bass, excellent resolution and in general is a great amp. I highly recommend it and would buy it again if I had to do it all over. I don't see upgrading this amp any time soon... if ever.

Best of luck in your choice.

The Sixpacs' appearance is ok when tuened off. It's great when turned on in a dark room! Those twelve EL34s put on quite a light show. As far as sound quality goes, I think they are marvelous. I have not heard the Ars or Manley.

Jaydiane,
As Rushton mentioned, I have recently moved from Berning to Atma-Sphere MA1s, and am pleased with the change. They both are very good matches, it really comes down to personal taste.
In my rig, the MA1s provide greater ability to untangle complex orchestral music, and the music emerges from a blacker background. Music is effortless and natural. The Berning has a bit more energy on rock records, and is directionally more of a solid state sounds with tonal balance that might just tip up the lower mids, and upper bass region a bit.
The Berning is high on goosebump factor, and certainly the easiest to own of any tube amps I've had: it's small, runs cool, auto-bias, incredible tube life.
I also have a friend who runs Cary Sixpacs, and although I haven't heard them, he is pleased as punch.
If budget is not an issue, I think Bobby still will personally recommend the Joule VZN-100 monoblocks over all others. The good news is that you've got a speaker that will accurately allow you to hear the differences in all these terrific amps. It's a good problem to have!
Cheers,
Spencer