Road trip to demo $10,000 speakers

Gifted Listener, Command and Deja Vu are all great places to stop and listen--very friendly and attentive, no high pressure sales tactics.  Of these, Command probably has the widest array of gear. 

But, it is Deja Vu that is the utterly unique experience.  Much of the gear they have that is really interesting is made in-house or made in Italy by a designer/builder that works exclusively for them.  They make gear to order.  Of the regular commercial brands of speakers, they probably sell more Audio Note speakers than any other brand, next would be Harbeth and then probably ProAc.  There have been quite a few buyers that have come in to audition the "regular" commercial gear that they sell, and after hearing their unique house gear, have gone crazy upgrading to these unique products.  The custom speakers are mostly built around vintage drivers and parts (crossovers are built using very old vintage parts), although recently, drivers from G.I.P. Laboratories have been used in their most expensive and exotic designs.  Many of their custom speakers are below $20 k.  

While you are at Command, don't overlook the Neat speakers and Devore.  They may not have the more expensive Neat models in the shop, but, that brand is worth exploring.

As to how to audition speakers, I suggest doing a lot of the listening at quite low volume level.  It is easy to get juiced when speakers are played at high volume, but, that tends to be deceiving.  If you listen at your normal, comfortable level, or even lower volume, and the music sounds flat and uninvolving, you should be concerned with being caught in the trap of looking for more and more power to get satisfying sound.  I think this is common problem with a lot of modern, high-end speaker-amp combinations.  

Also, set aside a lot of time for your visit to Deja Vu.   I doubt that you will encounter another place anything like it anywhere in your travels, so take in everything they have to offer.  In particular, listen to the custom-built stuff because it sounds quite different from most modern speakers.  The more mundane "regular" brands include Harbeth, ProAc and Audio Note.  

Congratulations on a successful trip.  I like the approach of not fretting over hearing all of the alternative out there (an impossible task) and simply buying something that pushed all your buttons.  Command is a great place to buy something; they will provide you whatever support you need.

Still, I do wonder what you might have thought of the completely different sound you would encounter at Deja Vu.  Of course, there sound is far from pleasing everyone's taste, but, a surprising number of listeners find it to be almost a religious experience--they are shocked at how much more they simply enjoy the music.  Their sound is not for someone who "analyzes" the sound and looks for extremely deep and tight bass, extended highs, etc.--it is all about connecting musically and uncritically. They get a lot of "wow, I've never heard anything like this" reaction.