Quandary

I have a couple of points to add.

1) Your Benchmark is one of the best amps ever made and has received rave reviews across the board. It's going to be hard to beat.

2) If you have the itch to experiment with amps I would suggest buying a used tube amp so that you have the chance of getting something that sounds more different. Your Golden Ear's are suitable for tubes (they have good sensitivity and a fairly flat impedance curve).

If you buy a used tube amp you can keep it as long as you want and if it's doesn't spew fairy dust out of your speakers you can sell it for about what you paid for it.

This is a response to JFRmusic’s post.  Yes, I’ve been able to demo a component in-home “for free” with the set-up you mentioned….and then subjected to incredulous looks by salespeople when returning the item and informing them it didn’t float my boat.  This particular incident happened about 40 years ago, but I still remember feeling embarrassed and a little guilty returning the item.   From a dealer’s prospective time is money not to mention that the item, with each demo., has some additional wear and tear that it didn’t have before.  A nominal charge for demoing seems more than reasonable under the circumstances.  This way, everyone is happy (perhaps not whole but at least a little wiser).  The customer, while not ecstatic over forfeiting some $ is at least not obligated to spend for a full purchase for a component that didn’t meet his /her  expectationsand the dealer, while disappointed about not making a sale at least recuperates some $ for his efforts.

I respect rvpianos opinion to decline the offer (this scenario obviously didn’t work for him) but I really believe this is a viable way of handling one of the more difficult problems with hi-end audio purchases and I wish more dealers would offer this service.

$300 for a “demo.” RUN!

I certainly wouldn't want free in-home audition or even extensive at-store audition. I believe, dealer's time and effort should be paid for. Question is how much.

Watch out for the upsell. Where he gives you the 60 watt mono Blocks and then after you are impressed, admits the 60s do sound a lot better than the 30 watt, and since you already have them at your house and all hooked up….let’s make a deal o the 60s. You’ll be much happier.  Right