What new amp for my Merlins

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

I just asked Bobby if the Ars can be had in "Black Chrome" with a silver faceplate. Does the Ars light-up the room much?

Hi Tabl10s. I wouldn't say that it's exactly bright. It's obviously a tube amp meaning that you can see some glow and it looks nice in a dark room but no, I don't find it lights up the room all that much. Don't know if that's a good thing or not from your perspective but that's my take. Cheers.

Bryan