Would you trust a local dealer to help you put

Cmalak, interesting. I got soured on Goodwins High End, when in the mid '90's, I had just bought used B&W M802 speakers. I was a total newbie to high end, & they were pretty useless on giving me any kind of guidance re component matching with those speakers, claimed to not really know anything about them (even tho they're extremely well known speakers), etc. They also wouldn't give me a penny discount (off of list) on anything, no matter how many components I bought.

Then they hired a tall guy from the now defunct audio place in Arlington. (I had bought a lot of stuff at that store). One day he went off on me, LOUDLY, in the front part of the store, in front of other customers & employees, ranting about how horrible my speakers were, while bragging about how many of them he sold at his old store (!?). (If they were so horrible, why didn't he tell his old customers that?). I never went back there.

After also getting clueless (but not rude) advice at a couple of other audio stores in the area, I started relying on advice from other hobbyists on A'gon & elsewhere, & buying & selling used gear to make upgrades I couldn't possibly do always buying new. (A salesman at Natural Sound in Natick--who I like--& overall like the store--& is a B&W dealer--tried to convince me that I could easily power B&W M802's, with a 70 wpc tube amp (!?). Most of his other advice is spot on tho.

But I'm glad you've had good luck there (Goodwins High End). It is a nice store, great listening rooms, & not a zoo like some other places. I just felt they had the most "attitude", & it's far from the first time I've been insulted by an arrogant audio salesman--I don't know what it is about that job that attracts (some of) those "pompous" types....

I had similar experience at Sound By Singer in NYC once.

High end audio guys can be full of themselves sometimes or at least money grubbers that will say anything to get you to see things their way.

There was also at least one salesperson at SBS that seemed interested in what the customer wanted.

SO the moral is its the individual people you deal with that make a difference. Bottom line is you have to be able to trust them. The more you know, the harder that can be sometimes. Ignorance is bliss?

Steveaudio, sorry to hear that you or anyone else has bad experiences at Goodwins. I've purchased a couple of great items form them and they were very helpful. However, if ever there was a contest about bad attitude, lousy repair, unfair charges, incompetent work, arrogance and being pompous, AV. South in Tampa Fl. would beat all others combined even if the others had Johnny Boey as a tag team partner in a Texas Death Match. Best of luck.

Not to get OT but I couldn't help but notice Steveaudio's comment

A salesman at Natural Sound in Natick--who I like--& overall like the store--& is a B&W dealer--tried to convince me that I could easily power B&W M802's, with a 70 wpc tube amp (!?)

Assuming you mean N802s, I heard at least one tube amp (less than 70 wpc; 2 6CA7s per side, maybe 50-60 wpc) 802s (and 802ds) extremely well. Just sayin'...no excuse for being rude and arrogant and condescending. Like Cmalak says, you basically have 2 options; find a good dealer and pay them for the value added, or DIY thru internet/secondary market purchases. One of the reasons why B&M dealers are a little gun-shy is that there are lots of folks who use their sound rooms and their expertise to assemble a system and then buy it "on-line". Not easy at all to tell the good guys from the product pushers but one benefit of the internet is being able benefit from a wider range of "word of mouth".

This thread has morphed a little, which is ok, but I want to come back to the original premise: would you just let the dealer pick the system for 10 grand?
My view had nothing to do with whether you could trust the dealer- assuming the best intentioned dealer, with good ears, and access to a wide array of different equipment, the dealer's sonic 'taste' may still be different than yours.
I have certainly relied on dealers in the past and will continue to do so- and i believe there is value in that: in addition to benefitting from their wisdom (with the right dealer) and the ability to get access to some hard to get equipment, they can (generally, not always) provide support, like help with set-up, loaners, handling repair processing, and accepting trade-ins and trade-ups.
At the same time, I have had any number of negative experiences with dealers, including some in NYC.
Even the best dealer is sometimes constrained by the lines they do not carry.