Audio stores in my area...

Have you tried the yellow pages? Just about all of my dealers are listed under 'stereo'.

Thank you all for the help. Too bad that I probably can't get to most of those places because, hah, I'm only 17, and driving to San Francisco isn't exactly easy for me. But I did happen to find out that Paradigm speakers are sold at an authorized shop right in Stockton, only a few miles away, and it didn't show up on the list of dealers on the Stereophile website. I'll have to check out the shop soon and see if they have any speakers there that can satisfy me. :)

Jcdem,

In Lodi, you're not far at all from the East Bay and South Bay, so you should have no trouble finding the majority of speaker lines to hear. There are many high end shops in this area, and in addition, numbers of private or home dealers carrying some of the more exotic lines. A few for starters -
Music Lovers Audio (Berkeley)
San Francisco Stereo (Berkeley, San Francisco &
South Bay)
Bay Area Audio (San Jose)
The Analog Room (San Jose)
Audible Difference (Palo Alto)
And lots of others. By all means take advantage of these places, its worth the 1 hour drive. In fact, there are so many audio dealers, manufacturers, and designers in this area that you can get a lot of help in finding and narrowing down your choices once you get out and start talking to people.
Good luck.

If you want to email me I might be able to help as Im in Modesto.

Two things to try: (1) log in to the Stereophile web site www.stereophile.com, go to "Links 2 Die 4," click on "Equipment Dealers," then "California," where dealers are listed alphabetically by name, but their locations are identified in parentheses. There doesn't seem to be one in Lodi, but maybe you will recognize some of the locations listed as close to you. (2) Go the the web site of a high end manufacturer that you are interested in and pull up their dealer locator -- most of them have one -- and hopefully there's one that's relatively close to you. Good luck!