High end vs internet

I went to a HiFi shop about an hour from where I live to listen to a pair of $11,500 Talon Peregrine X speakers. After waiting for at least a half hour to be helped by the only person in the store who knew anything about the speakers I was brought upstairs to the "good equipment" room. The workers unboxed a brand new pair of Chorus mono blocks and plugged them in. The speakers were about 12 feet apart with a pair of martin Logan speakers in between them. I sat in the sweetspot on a sofa about 12 inches too short for the speakers and listened to the salesman tell me how he designed or helped design virtually every piece of equipment on the market today. We also told me how he goes to CES and sets up every turntable in all the rooms. Later he explained to me how my pre-amp was no good because it is not a tube pre-amp.
To his credit he offered to let me take the speakers home and listen to them. I didn't do it because by this point I knew I would not be buying from him.
I did get to listen for a few minutes and the speakers sounded good, but what could I really tell? Between the bad setup and the new mono blocks I certainly wasn't getting an accurtate portrayal of what these speakers could do.
He quoted me a price of $8000 on the speakers that have been sitting on his showroom floor for over a year.
With service like this why would I want to go on the net to buy equipment!?!
They have nice stuff in theis store but I don't plan to buy anything. I got enough gas from this salesman to drive back home!