We are buying and reviewing gear all wrong

Bryston offers complete systems.  Excellent quality audio equipment and backed up with a twenty year warranty on most of their line.  Yup !  Twenty years and it doesn't matter who owns it as long as it goes back to them in the original shipping box. That alone separates the men from … well from anyone else in the audio business.  

Designing speakers is different, more art than in designing electronics, and different arts require different talents.
Gryphon also makes everything except turntables. If you like this kind of sound and have the funds - go for it. Gryphon or MBL ? Hmm, probably neither for me, I view speakers as both devices and musical instruments, but electronics and cd player - Gryphon.

This is the problem with the whole "just listen to what it sounds like" argument and opposition to measurements. Listening doesn't necessarily correlate to the complex interactions of different components. If you look at what the individual parts actually measure you can get some idea of what their interaction will be like. The problem isn't with the review process. The problem is with the interpretation of the information. Folks want to take opinions on what a thing sounds like in a few circumstances and make sweeping generalizations regardless of what the physical properties of the component are. That's upside down. It leaves you doing nothing but guess work. It's entirely possible to assemble a good sounding system based purely on measurements having never heard any piece of it. It's practically impossible to do that cobbling together components based on some compilation of opinions. I don't have the ungodly piles of money some if you do to just throw components at the problem. I have to be very analytical and figure out what measurements produce the qualities I'm looking for. It seems to be working well for me. I don't know why more people don't do that and lean on reviewers and manufacturers to produce and provide those measurements. 

Agree with @bdp2, a good dealer should have done his homework and will be offering a system that is synergistic.

Sure, but that's not for audiophiles. Audiophiles might ask for an advice but they want to be able to assemble their systems by themselves. Which in this dealer's reality would mostly involve moving boxes, cables and speakers. Real audiophiles are rarely best customers except perhaps for a handful of boutique dealers. There used to be one - HI-Fi Farm in Virginia selling very esoteric pieces. High Water Sound in Manhattan maybe.