Kex - the kit may be an option since I'm looking to buy the stripped down Nitty Gritty LP cleaning machine called the KAB Or something along these lines. So I'll see how that is all dealt with at the border to see how it goes. Right now I'm on path for the AN OTO Phono SE which I'm trying to work on with taking out some RRSP's to get it. LOL yes it's crazy. (Sorry but it is better than any SS amp I've heard and it's not close - but yeah it's subjective and it may only apply with specific speakers in question).

I would like a cheap option on kits because the Atoms are not world beaters -though they;re very good under $170.00Cdn.

Wooch

Yes my post was contradictory in that i said no high end dealers carry Paradigm here but that Soundhounds carries them and Wharfedale as entry level stuff - in fact the issue of High end is spurious because it really doesn't have any context other than high priced. The B&W 705 is considered High End I bet and the AX Two at $700.00 is not - that doesn't say much about which is better however.

I was not clear on my dealer's comments either. But I don't want to be any clearer out of respect for their business with other brands that he carries - I'll leave it at what he and everyone who works there owns all fall in line with one brand they carry(even years before they carried the company for himseld) while all the other brands they sell they choose not to own themselves.

Of course they sell AN because AN sells - you'd be crazy to do otherwise. I'm surprised it seels as well as it does at the location due the prices of AN relative to others there. But according to Terry they are the biggest(or near it) AN dealer and probably the only one that can truly demonstrate what the company is about and have enough big name competition in the store to put on the demos. A lot of big high end dealers here only carry a few 3-4 speaker lines - To me that is no help because they usually carry a couple of inexpensive lines and then one mid line and one high end line. Hi-Fi Center downtown Vancouver carries most B&W speakers but they carry little else and they are not set-up to do comparison as a couple of the rooms are set-up as surround sound living rooms where all speakers are fully stagnant and set-up more to show how good they are at customizing(lots of money in that).

So if you have $700.00 they can really only point you to a B&W and maybe somehting from Mordaunt Short and that's it(and at some prices maybe nothing else). At Soundhounds you could listen to about 20 speakers that range between $500.00 and $900.00 from maybe 8 plus brands all in the same room. Most places carry one flagship line - B&W Nautilus and no other speaker at those $8k prices - which forces you to listen to the competing brand say a Martin Logan $8k speaker somewhere else and a Tannoy Flagship somewhere else - and it's not practical to order 12 of them to bring home and do all your comparisons. What I try and do is find the best systems and best speakers each store carries - Luckily Soundhounds carries much of them - ML is arguably the best thing Commercial Electronics carries B&W is the best Hi-Fi center carries within their stores - Soundhounds carries both. There is only so much that can be compared - so one ois then forced to try and listen to say JM Labs in different rooms at COmmercial Electronics and with similar gear that Soundhounds carry and attempt to project an opinion when an A/B comparison is not possible.

I had to do that with Wilson's Sophia - I did not compare that directly to Audio Note - but I'm sure I can conclude that the J and E are better music reproducers for several reasons - I would be less sure of myself however making a clear statement agains something like the N801 however which has some similar problematic traits.

I would not base a comparison of JBL in a bad environment with B&W in a good one - A&B Sound has acceptable auditioning rooms that are away from traffic (at least the one I go to in Vancouver) and it is more than fair to compare the Totems to the JBL's there. It does not require a great room to be able to tell thatthe Rainmaker sounds coinsiderably better than the JBL Northridge standmount - even at the crappy A&B Sound in my town where they'll all lined up - it would be difficult to compare soundstage, imaging but that is barely scratching the surface of what music is about.