Recommendations for HiFi Listening Room

@brewerslaw Just because you bought tons from iTunes doesn't mean you're stuck with Apple Music forever. When you stream it, they don't even play the best version of the files. They shrink to save bandwidth. Your best bet is to store you Apple purchased files in AIFF on a NAS or USB drive. Then you can play those with any decent software on a streamer even if you don't have a service subscription to Qobuz etc. Roon would make for better metadata. One super annoying thing about Apple is they don't by default place album art .jpgs in your folders. You can easily fix this some cheap or maybe even free software. But that's a whole 'nuther conversation. 

@grislybutter buying an amp before choosing what speakers you'll use them with is like buying your favorite tires because they'll be the "spirit of your ride" then looking at what vehicles fit those tires. Speakers vary far more widely in design and each needs an appropriate amp. The delta between appropriate amps will be significant, but nowhere near as wide ranging in possibilities vs. the myriads of speaker options. You wouldn't want to buy monster truck tires and then decide you'd like to drive a Miata. Cheers,

Spencer   

@sbank

I started with the speakers and then, at the end, had to replace the amp. If I had started with the amp, I would have had a much better way to tell which speaker worked best for me. The range of the amp-with-speaker choices is wider than either the speaker or amp range, besides the fact there is no such thing as speaker or amp sound "alone". 

When I switched amps, the change in speaker sound was just as varied as when I switched speakers (in similar price range) with the same amp. That's what my ears told me.

I was thinking of metaphores before my original post, and they were all flawed, just like yours. tires as the amp? Seriously? Don't you see how ridiculous it is.

At the end, there are arguments for either approach. The bottom line is, you can't test speakers without a decent amplifier and one that matches your needs. It will be a flawed experience. 

@grislybutter Totally agree with you about pros/cons of either approach and no demo is going to be worthwhile w/o appropriately matched amp & speakers. However, my analogy was to try to help point the less experienced OP down a path of more likely success. Of course, it's just an opinion.
As an example, I'd encourage any newbie looking to make a sizable investment to try to demo planars, horns and a number of dynamic speakers. If they fall in love with one type, then learn what amps might be good fits. Most newbies IMHO would be less inclined to fall in love with one type of amp topology definitely and then consider all the speakers that might fit. 
Room size and environmental factors are an important criteria in the big picture and matching the speaker size to the room size seems far more intuitive to me. YMMV. Cheers,

Spencer

@sbank yes, of course i was talking from a low budget perspective where I started. I always thought I had to spend 60% of my money on speakers. (=I would have agreed with you 110% for most of my shopping journey)
I only learned that it wasn't the be-all-end-all component when my phono stage sounded bad, my old amp started to fade, it felt underpowered with most music (but I eagerly fell in love with my speakers with a few select tracks), all that... All I mean is, if you can't drive those beautiful speakers, you'll be grumpy, and unhappy with them. 

I also think - and I have no proof - that with a great amp, even mediocre speakers sound better.

Overall, I think starting with listening to the speakers at dealers may work just as well with the OPs massive budget. I was arguing from my modest budget point of view, when every purchase was just barely cutting it.  

@brewerslaw

For both your analog and digital audio chains, you'll need:

• turntable
• tonearm
• cartridge
• phono preamp (stage)
• preamp
• amp
• server/streamer
• DAC 
• cabling
• shelf/rack
• room treatments
• streaming subscription service

The best bang/buck is to purchase an integrated amplifier which combines the preamp with an amp.  This saves costs in casework and cables.  Additional savings can be had if the integrated has an internal phono preamp and/or an internal DAC, however, the performance of many of these internal components are often sonically lacking.  Hegel has a great integrated with a great sounding DAC but may be too below your budget. 

The Aesthetix Mimas Integrated Amplifier may be an ideal fit as it has great optional phono preamp and DAC cards - excellent online reviews for the Mimas and it's cards.  Seems to fit your budget and offers excellent price/performance.

Turntable + tonearm and sometimes a cartridge combo packages can save time and $.  The $3k "Mofi Ultradeck + Mastertracker Cartridge" is a sonic bargain and a good place to start - lots of very favorable reviews.  

Server/streamer - get a decent audiophile component, it'll make a sonic difference.  Innuos may be a good place to start as they consistently offer great/satisfying performance at their price points.  

Speakers: for your $35k budget, without any other info my rough guesstimate speaker cost is $10k-$25k   - way too wide of a range for us to give meaningful speaker suggestions.  After you get your component budget sorted out, then it may reveal a useful narrow range for the speakers budget.

As far as your OP dealer suggested components, the Paradigm Persona 3F is a fine modern sonic choice, the Project is okay at its' price point, and you can do much better than those McIntosh and Sony models.