good hifi store in Bay Area

I would have to agree: stay away from Audio Vision in SF.  It's just not worth dealing with those people. I've had much better experience with Music Lovers.

The Analog Room located in Campbell, CA is permanently closing.   Their web site says "After over the last twenty-seven years of being at the forefront of analog two channel HiFi sound in the Bay Area, we are retiring!  Come see us for great pricing on demo equipment and vinyl.  Our store hours are:  12noon-5pm Wednesday-Saturday. We are closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday”.

http://www.theanalogroom.net

I have purchased equipment from Brian for 15+ years and he is terrific.   When I am looking for audio equipment, He is very consultive and helpful during the process.  I am going to miss working with Brian at The Analog Room.

+1.  As noted above, I also recommend The Analog Room.  His address is:
3185 South Bascom Avenue
Campbell CA 95008

The owner's name is Brian and he is very helpful.  I have been his customer since 2006 and he provides a consultive sale when he gives his opinion and advise based on your needs.   He carries the excellent PMC Speakers (I purchased these) and also the excellent Harbeth speakers.  I suggest you visit him and discuss your needs. 

+ 1 on World of Sound in Mill Valley.  Peter is great, He does the maintenance on my old McIntosh gear.  Extensive audition rooms.

Thanks for all the suggestions folks.

The Analog Room in San Jose. 

Go to Music Lovers and ask for Hugh Fountain. Hugh got me into stereo 
in the 70s. He has perfect pitch and knows of what he speaks. I think you will find the Paradigm line a much better speaker for the $$ as compared to B&W. Best of luck and thanks for helping your relative
in his pursuit of great sound!!

I believe yyzsantabarbara is referring to Audio High on Moffett Blvd in Mt. View.  They sell Marantz, but not B&W.

Just google it. You sound like my wife. Google b&w speakers for sale near me. 

Harmony Audio on West Portal in San Francisco carries B&W.  

Music Lovers in SF and Berkeley has nice listening rooms and helpful salesmen, if you like the brands they carry. 

Audio Visions carries a lot of brands. Unfortunately, many customers, including me, have had terrible experiences there.  One of the owners particularly can be a real problem. I would love to shop there because of the selection but I won’t because of  the  treatment. Read the Yelp reviews.  

In Mill Valley, there’s a small store called World of Sound which carries B&W, KEF, Monitor Audio and other speakers.  In electronics, they carry McIntosh, Musical Fidelity and others. They are big on B&W and the owner, Peter, is very helpful. They area about 10-15 mInutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge and a couple of minutes from 101. If you’re anywhere near Mill Valley, it would be worth a trip.  The opposite experience to Audio Visions.  

although it was admittedly several years ago, I had a negative experience with Music Lovers when they would not return my calls regarding a service issue on equipment I had purchased from them..

Tone of Music is my favorite but doesn't carry B&W. However, the Devore's sounded very nice when I was last in the shop dropping off some tubes for Tim.

Tone of Music is a very nice shop.  Make an appointment
Tim the owner is very knowledgable.

http://toneofmusic.com/

The 2 shops mentioned are good and I have been to both.

If you are near the South Bay then there is also a very good store at the Mountain View train station. I forgot the name but it is on Castro across from Central (beside Thai restaurant).  You can walk from the BART station

There is also a good smaller store at the Campbell downtown area. That downtown is so small you can easily look it up.

@hifineubee have you tried the dealer locator from B&W's web site? Sounds like you might be looking for a non-custom installer—you can filter them out in the dealer locator.

Looking at the Music Lover's Speaker line up they do sell the Paradigm Persona's. IMHO they have it all over the B&W's. At my dealers he had a very nice compact system for a small to Medium room. The Persona Monitors and the Naim Atom. Doesn't take up much room but a nice big detailed sound.

Both are good shops neither sell B&W though we visted both shops a few months ago.


Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Not sure about current brands, but here are my favorite stores in the area:

Music Lover's


https://www.musicloversaudio.com/

and Audio Visions

http://audiovisionsf.com/?page=specials

You should have no problem finding a good store in the Bay area.

It is doubtful a Magnolia would sell the Marantz higher end products but I am sure they could specially order it.

We just got in the Krell K300i intergrated you may want to check that out as a possible alternative to the Maranz.

The K300i  is $8k so similar in price to the Marantz, is 150 watts Class A and has a great built in dac and streaming, it also sounds really rich and very tube like, which should complement the detailed sound of the B&W Diamond tweeter which works well with richer amplifiers such as the Marantz. The digital board is really good sounding and has the ability to stream Tidal and is fully MQA compatible and the piece even includes Apt x blue tooth.

There is also a standard version without the streaming digital board for $7k.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Krell dealers

If you are flexible and willing to consider used equipment; try Dan at Porschecab (https://www.audiogon.com/users/porschecab ), in St Mateo. Dan has a fantastic collection of used high end equipment for sale and he is a really nice guy to work with.

best buy sells B&W and Marantz