$10K budget. Help

"I'm in Sarasota, FL with a few dealers to choose from."

If you're willing to take a ride, check out these stores: Audio Center in Deerfield Beach, Hollywood Sound in Hollywood and Wellington Audio in Wellington. They're not to far from each other, so you should have no problem getting to all 3 in one day.

I've done business with all of them, and only had good experiences. These stores are definitely worth your time.

I am a fan of VAC, the Sigma 160i or Vac Avatar Super are very good KT88 amps with highly respectable MM or MC (depending upon options). These are going to push into 80W territory so should be workable with a wide variety of speakers.

Z, where do you live? My sister is in Lido Key and mom lives in Venice. I get down there a bit and have never seen a high end store on the west coast. Are there any? Thanks.

Audio Visions South in Tampa carries some high end stuff.

I live in NYC. As far as the west coast of FL goes, I don't know of any good places. AV South is kind of like a Magnolia type store. Most of the places focus on multi room, home automation type of products. They may have some expensive equipment, but they don't know what to do with it. I guess Epic Audio and House of High Fidelity would be the best of the bunch on the west coast. They're in the Naples/Ft. Myers area. (Keep in mind that there may be stores I just don't know about.)

The 3 stores I mentioned in my last post are different. They're well run, legitimate, 2 channel B&M audiophile shops. The equipment is matched well, and set up properly, so that you can get a good demo. In most cases, you'll be dealing with the owner.

Larry from Hollywood Sound, is considered by many to be one of the best vinyl people in the country. He's particularly good at getting the best sound for your money. And since he focuses mostly on vinyl, he has a lot of inventory in stock.

John from Wellington is mostly into the British brands. Naim, Audio Note, Spendor, Rega, Harbeth, etc...

Audio Center is more mainstream. Ayre, Vandersteen, Magnepan, B&W, Rotel, Rowland and some others.

In a time where good B&M stores are very hard to come by, these guys stand out. If you're brave enough to drive on I-75 its worth a trip.