I'd recommend taking your time and starting completely from scratch. First and foremost I'd say make sure you get the speakers right, then find the electronics that drive them properly and mate well sonically. I can almost guarantee that won't be Rotel, which is why I said to just start from scratch. Agree with others there are lots of alternatives to B&W, and you're very fortunate to live in probably one of the best places in the country to hear many different brands. This is just an example, but I got to compare several B&W models to similar Joseph Audio speakers, and for music and to my ears the JAs were superior in every way. Not that B&Ws are bad at all (like @caphill I like them for HT but not so much for music), but it just shows how important it is to hear many different speakers to figure out what speaker characteristics are most important to YOU -- and there just ain't no shortcut for that. The good new is, it's fun!!!
Along with Joseph Audio I'd echo some speakers mentioned above and highly recommend ProAc, Vandersteen, Vienna Acoustics, Silverline, Spendor, Harbeth, and DeVore if you can find them. Also, since you're a musician I'd definitely try to hear ATC speakers as they're frequently used in recording studios and sometimes sound better to musicians than some more "audiophile" type speakers. Oh, and make sure you bring a representative sample of your favorite music (hopefully including some well-recorded stuff) to listen to in addition to whatever the dealer likes to play to show a speaker's strengths. Anyway, hope this helps and best of luck in your search. And don't forget to HAVE FUN!!!
