Trusting an audio dealer to sell you what you need at a fair price is like trusting a car dealer to sell you what you need at a fair price. Will never happen. Elizabeth is right on. I've never had a pleasant bricks/mortar audio buying experience, but then again, I've never had a pleasant car buying experience. No hope for me?
Would you trust a local dealer to help you put
together a modest system. (think $10k). Let's say you got tired of the whole "system building on my own thing." If you had a good local dealer, would you go take a chance on them and say "I want speakers, an amp and preamp (or integrated) that will sound good in a small to medium size family room." "I already have my sources." What's your take on this?