I'm interested in hearing what "the best" systems sound like, where to go?

Anywhere, literally anywhere but an audio show. An audio show can take a $250,000 system and make it sound like a $5,000 system.

+1 On audio equipment vendors who will spend large dollars on demo rooms. Ditto for high end audio stores, ones with a consistent good reputation, but don’t expect all their rooms to be good.

There are lots of hifi clubs around. Some people will have better, some people will have worse setups, but when you listen to a lot, you can see consistency in setups that translates into things you personally like and may want to work on.

Spend a week in Southern California, visiting all the great dealers in the area. You’ll need a week because the traffic is horrific.

The closest cities to me are Indianapolis and Cincinnati. There is a great dealer in Indianapolis that I've purchased a couple of items from, but their "listening rooms" are all very cluttered with equipment. I hoped for a treated room that was set up specifically for listening, not storage of inventory. They are great people and they are very knowledgeable, I don't want to give the impression that they are hacks...far from it!

The hifi clubs interest me. Maybe I could hear systems in real world situations? I do want to hear systems that I couldn't possibly afford only to hear what I'm missing. I want to know what to listen for when I make a system tweak. Audiophiles use words to describe sound, but listening is the only way to apply attributes to those words.

Last year I auditioned a pair of B stock Forte IIIs. I drove 720 miles round trip to hear them. I had just purchased a pair of the new KLH Kendall towers and I wanted to compare them to the Forte IIIs. The room wasn't treated in any way, so I had to keep that in mind since my room does have absorption and diffuser treatments. I left without them. I had cash in hand to buy them, but I didn't think they sounded as good as the Kendalls. It wasn't a wasted trip, the person auditioning them for me did turn me on to a great demonstration song and I bought the CD as soon as I got home. Nils Lofgren, Keith Don't Go. The whole CD is awesome!

Steakster, I would love to have had the opportunity to sit with a reviewer and experience the process he used for critical listening. I'm sure you learned a lot!

I'm interested in hearing what "the best" systems sound like, where to go?

"The Best" does not exist objectively, unfortunately.  However, go listen to any system in which the owner claims it is among the best, and let them explain why he/she thinks it is  --- The process will help you to assemble a system that fits your budget and gives you the most satisifaction.