Problems with my Berning ZH270

Hello gain, George.
Well, glad you got ZH from Allan because I had heard that outdated worn down ZH270s are floating in the used market.
I never mean to imply that the stock unit is inferior in any way, but cryoed output tubes will give you one notch up. ERS kit, in my case, would give another TWO notches up. And, yes, good feet (Stillpoints, specifically) would give further notch. Since I don't have your speaker and source, I don't have any more meaningful suggestion except for adding subwoofer. Hope you will find ZH an exceptional piece of equipment. Welcome to the club.

I have a Lovan Classic rack "upgraded" with a silestone shelf.

When dealing with such very transparent designs, every little change seems monumental.
Case in point, there are some Berning owners who at first, complain that the unit was warm.
OTL's, especially the Berning is about truth, clarity and correct tonality, tubes are what you hear, not an output transformer, therefore tubes can make the biggest difference, CD player, IC's and power cords can also be detrimental to the sound.
Objects that are magnetic, that are nearby can also have negative effects on the sound of the amp.
Even the room becomes more critical, as more HF energy is entering into it.

Speakers can sometimes also be a culprit, many speakers are not truly liner, but in the case of the Merlin's, I assure you, this is not the so.

It takes patience and some getting use to the truth and as one interested Berning customer reminded me of a movie with Jack Nicklison, truth....., you can't handle the truth :)
Truth comes with a price, you need to have nothing in your system causing trouble, the amp will not correct for that, it will not mask it or change it.

The Berning is certainly not an amp for everyone and neither are Merlin's speakers for everyone but those of you who have this combination and have worked out the rest of the system, you an I know that there is nothing else out there to compare

George,

The reason I asked about your rack and isolation tweaks was because I have found that small changes can have a large effect on tone (I have Merlin speakers with Joule gear).

Is it possible the Silestone quartz shelf is causing some ringing that is translating to brightness? One relatively cheap experiment is to buy an Ikea lack table (if you live near one) and put the tabletop without legs under the components, one by one, to see what happens.

Good luck, Bill

And one last thing George, if Allan hasn't talked you into the ERS as Khogugo notes, the cryoed 6jn6 outputs will move you up a notch but the ERS will just knock you out. It is the single largest improvement I have heard with this amp including various NOS input tubes, dampers, still points etc. The ERS really lowers an already low noise floor to allow you to hear further into the music. It sounds like you have your hands full for now but definitely consider this in the future, you won't regret it.