Thank you all for sharing your experiences.
Cruz123, I am curious as to what source you were using with your Cary/Merlin combo. Cables (speaker and ICs)? That info might prove insightful if you don't mind.
Let me also interject that overall I am happy with my system and not inclined to make any wholesale changes. I've had a highly resolving, analytical system and while often times sounded spectacular it could be downright painful on poor recordings. So, I'm not going that direction again and my current rig is intentionally a bit laid back. I'm into the music as much as the gear, but more so the music. Hope that disclosure doesn't make me a heretic in anyone's eyes.
Still, as we all know, it's hard not to yearn for "just a little more", though I'm trying hard to stay off the audiophile merry-go-round. "Hi, my name is Frank and I'm an audioholic. I haven't changed my system in 29 days, 3 hours and 41 minutes."
Thanks again everyone.
BTW, does re-biasing my tubes at a higher voltage reset the "audioholic" clock to zero?