Under statement of the year The odds are stacked against the High end so much it's not even funny. Had it not been for my love of music and technology I'd never even give a 2nd thought toward the quality of my gear. On top of this, had a local Hi-Fi shop (sadly closed now ) not had wonderful customer service and let me at about the age of 15 listen to a good $20k+ system consisting of both B&W and Martin Logan speakers I wouldn't have ever known what is possible in audio (and according to the magazines, just the tip of the iceberg). Now that I am older and more into the high end than ever, I wanted to listen to some good gear, but alas, in my quite large city there are about 7 shops that carry the stuff and all but 2 are "by appointment" outfits. How that is a good business strategy for them I do not know. What I do know is if that one shop were still open I'd probably be buying stuff from them