CAT versus Berning

The only advice I can offer is that when I owned my LA-100 MkIII I considered matching it with either the Berning or a Joule amp. This was based on much of the research I did here and other members comments. I have seen where a few people use the Berning with Merlin speakers and of course Joule and Merlin are a pretty classic combination. Of course all this is irrelevant to me now as I did an about face and went in a totally different direction with both preamp and amp. I hope this helps.

Were you ever able to audition the Berning?

You might just ask Bobby Palkovic for his opinion. I'm sure he could articulate the differences between the two since he is intimately familiar with both with his speakers.

Where does the Ars fit in this equation? You could keep all three for a personnal "Flavor-of-the-Month" club? I heard the Berning with the Caliburn TT in the Signal-Fi room last year in L.A.(I forget the name of the speakers)and it sounded great.

I was only able to audition the Joule amps (with the LAP-150) and Merlin speakers at RMAF last year and chatted with Bobby P. quite a bit in the process. Overall, while I enjoyed the sound, it was a bit too warm for my tastes. My thought in using a Berning with the Joule preamp was the comments I read about the Berning being a very neutral amp. I thought this would compliment the LA-100 MkIII which tends to be a tad more neutral than most tube preamps, but still has a lush and warm sonic signature.