Recommendations for HiFi Listening Room

@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.

This is an enormously fun thread to read! This forum offers unrivaled experience and knowledge, and most of the suggestions here are "sound." (Listen to lots of gear, take your time, work with your room, don't underestimate the importance of your sources including a high-end streamer/qobuz, etc.) 

As a self-described "newbie" out here, you might also keep in mind that for many 'Goners this isn't a hobby but a way of life. They (we, I suppose) have spent decades trying different equipment, different sounds, different rooms, different music, different cables, different audiophile philosophies. You're trying to do something very difficult: spend a considerable amount of money to get it "right" the first time. I'd be curious to hear if anyone on this forum, even with that kind of budget, managed that trick. (In fact, no one can know if they got it right without ... trying different equipment in their system.) And part of the problem is that for many there is no "right." There can be great pleasure in tweaking and re-imagining a system, but it can also be a long-term and even life-long project.

So in addition to considering your budget, your room, and your music, I'd encourage you to consider your psychological well-being! Keep it FUN, whether that means two years of research or just handing over your credit card to the nicest salesman. In fact, there's something to be said for working with a high-end audio store, especially as @jjss49 said, if they'll come to your room and later help you set it up. For that budget, they should. (For what it's worth, I'm also skeptical of some of the first dealer's suggestions, though he has spent more time with you than any of us.) For years I worked with the owner of a high-end store in my area and thoroughly enjoyed his support and his company. I'll add, though, that I don't remember him ever suggesting a specific brand to me; he only encouraged me to listen and listen and listen. 

Have fun and enjoy the ride!

+1 on working with a local dealer, you can go over to the store, listen, get help if you need to bring something back. 

I think a good system, with no shortcuts, can be put together for 12-15K (I wouldn't know, my budget was way lower), What the OP can do for his generous budget is go for the aesthetics and high-end models of the mid-range boutique brands. With a car metaphor: not a Porsche but a Golf R, or if you like Italian better, not a Ferrari but Alfa Quadrifoglio.

"We all know" what a pain it is to park Ferraris :)

Yes, my driver never quite gets it right.