Recommendations for HiFi Listening Room

I wanted to "just swap my speakers" 2 years ago. I ended up with a new (used) amp and turntable, new cables - kept the CD player (but stopped listening to CDs) , to improve/accomplish perfect synergy. I'd say i am further from it then when I started and it is normal.

I was convinced that it was all about the speakers. I had to spend the most on speakers and I had to find the best sounding speakers for the money (or twice the money) I had. 

I would stay away from advice of a specific brand, I would start with cultures, regions and countries. Unless you buy a "Ford" you will find that every boutique shop will have a specific DNA and the results will vary accordingly as they may or may not match you visual and technical and sound requirements. 

Scandinavian, British, Italian, Swiss-German, US-Canadian, all very unique and fantastic choices and camps . 

I would say: spend half your time reading up on it, and youtube videos, and the other half listening. This forum was gigantically helpful for my turntable and speaker stands and a complete beehive and clusterf%k for speakers. 

To paraphrase a quote from a great movie: figure out your priorities and then question and validate them. It will be a fun journey.

Your room size and listening preferences will determine how much power you will need, your budget will determine what brands you can buy and you should listen to/consider the amp and speaker as one choice and the source independent from them. (Or I could be totally wrong about this, and everything I wrote!) :) 

I don’t know where you are in the process but I am completely lost about the suggestion of buying speakers first. You should buy the amp first, I think, it will be the spirit of your system.

@sbank

I started with the speakers and then, at the end, had to replace the amp. If I had started with the amp, I would have had a much better way to tell which speaker worked best for me. The range of the amp-with-speaker choices is wider than either the speaker or amp range, besides the fact there is no such thing as speaker or amp sound "alone". 

When I switched amps, the change in speaker sound was just as varied as when I switched speakers (in similar price range) with the same amp. That's what my ears told me.

I was thinking of metaphores before my original post, and they were all flawed, just like yours. tires as the amp? Seriously? Don't you see how ridiculous it is.

At the end, there are arguments for either approach. The bottom line is, you can't test speakers without a decent amplifier and one that matches your needs. It will be a flawed experience. 

@sbank yes, of course i was talking from a low budget perspective where I started. I always thought I had to spend 60% of my money on speakers. (=I would have agreed with you 110% for most of my shopping journey)
I only learned that it wasn't the be-all-end-all component when my phono stage sounded bad, my old amp started to fade, it felt underpowered with most music (but I eagerly fell in love with my speakers with a few select tracks), all that... All I mean is, if you can't drive those beautiful speakers, you'll be grumpy, and unhappy with them. 

I also think - and I have no proof - that with a great amp, even mediocre speakers sound better.

Overall, I think starting with listening to the speakers at dealers may work just as well with the OPs massive budget. I was arguing from my modest budget point of view, when every purchase was just barely cutting it.  

I think a good system, with no shortcuts, can be put together for 12-15K (I wouldn't know, my budget was way lower), What the OP can do for his generous budget is go for the aesthetics and high-end models of the mid-range boutique brands. With a car metaphor: not a Porsche but a Golf R, or if you like Italian better, not a Ferrari but Alfa Quadrifoglio.

"We all know" what a pain it is to park Ferraris :)

@jjss49 every situation is different. I watched the last 20 or so Darko podcasts on speakers, he said and explained it several times in great detail: DON'T buy the speakers first.

@stevedbrewer I just read this  - PrimaLuna’s EVO 300 Hybrid :