Just my $.02 ...
I am ultra-picky when it comes to the performance of something I buy, especially for big-ticket items like home appliances and electronics.
Not to pimp for one retailer over another, but for almost any home A/V equipment, I go exclusively to Tweeter. When I was in the market for my HDTV last year, the salesman actually steered me to a ridculous deal on a 50" Samsung DLP when I was ready to spend nearly double on a larger Mitsubishi DiamondVision that was nearly double the price. To my eyes (which are 20/20) the picture quality on the Samsung is great. 4 months after I bought it, wierd things began happening to the TV picture, so I called their customer service and scheduled a repair visit. The Tweeter tech took all of 15 minutes to figure out the problem, called his parts depot, had a replacement in stock, actually drove an hour each way to get the replacement circuit boards. He replaced the boards, then calibrated the display with his Avia disk! I don't expect that kind of service at St. Peter's gates. I've purchased TV's and DVD players from Sears, Circuit City, Best Buy, but I always end up going back to Tweeter because they just seem more knowledgeable and have superior service to the "big box" electronics stores.