Finally here to post my experiences. Both were brief and not terribly positive, but here goes.
In both cases, I decided to be honest and introduced myself as a "visiting audiophile from the midwest" who - in so many words - was not very likely to buy anything. I suppose I might consider it fortunate that either shop elected to demo gear, but OTOH, there's always a chance, I told them, as well as (should be assumed) the possibility for positive word-of-mouth.
Sound by Singer required me to be with a saleman in order to enter any of the listening rooms. I was told that the room with the Grand Utopias - which I'd wanted to hear - was basically off limits. Oh well. I then asked to here the Focal/Burrmeister setup in another room. Sales guy let me alone in there for as long as I wanted, which was nice.
These were a mid-sized floorstander, $8K, with a $6K CDP and $17K integrated. This is some real money. Underwhelmed by the sound. Smooth, extended, great soundstage, and all the audiophile buzzwords in abundance - except, I suppose, for dynamics and immediacy. I must be spoiled/colored by my high-eff/SET experience at home because all the typical low-efficiency multi-way speakers I hear sound rather undynamic and unrealistic to me almost all the time (except for the Green Mountain speakers I also own and which work wonderfully with SET). I listened to five tracks, thanked the salesman for his time, talked a bit about Lowthers (which he'd never heard of), then left.
I passed by Stereo Exchange by chance on the way back to the office and stopped in. Here, when I introduced myself in the same fashion, the reception was not warm at all. They had some B&W 802s with McIntosh SS gear that I asked to hear - was told "not possible" as it was cold. I told him I'd give a couple points for the gear not being warm and that I'd really love to hear it. He agreed rather reluctantly.
I have never been a big fan of B&W speakers (boy am I asking for the flames here) and this visit was not an exception to my experience. They sounded fine, even great, if you want bass, treble that sounds like great treble (i.e, separate from the music) and like you're listening through a blanket. That's what I got. Very dead sound, IMO. Note that these were 1200W monoblocks. HOWEVER - volumes were kept low - no more than 80dB, I'd say - and that makes it more difficult to make an evaluation. However, I'm quite positive that my SD/SET system sounds faar more alive at such volumes.
I can't and don't blame either shop for not being enthusiastic about demoing gear to a guy it's obvious isn't going to buy anything.
Both systems had many good qualities but neither is my cup of tea anymore.
