Hi,
I agree with RGA on his last post. I too was a magazine subsriber for many years and that did influence me in the past. I did change when a good dealer friend of mine meet me at a HiFi show and pointed out how some manufacturer handed over a suspicious looking envelope to a well known reviewer. Subscription cancelled.
I am now only getting HiFi+ which to my mind is the best read around. No silly tests or tables, just info and great in depth reviews.
My present system has been bought solely on listening. And you are right some dealers will sell anything to make a sale. It is veery difficult to find a true honest dealer who put's the music first. I am lucky to have found one of those.
Chocolate ahhh. My son eats that horrible milky stuff that passes itself of for chocolate. My vice is "Valrhona" anything by them.
But then each to their own. I never even tried to convert him. I learned the hard way people like what they like.

Enjoy the music

Bernd