<< Well to be serious does anybody know of some good priced online stereo shops??????? >>
Sometimes SoundCity.com has some mid to high-end stuff on *clearance*, and the prices are reasonably cheap - unfortunately, everything else they have is a frigging rip. If you know your price, they have some good stuff.
mmxpress.com and carmedia1 are favorites of the high-end car audio forums - they sell a lot of high end products for quite a bit below retail, but they are not authorized dealers for most of the stuff they sell. You usually get a really good price, but I think a lot of ATers will have a problem with their customer service, return policies, etc. - you get what you pay for.
crutchfield - frigging RIP on almost everything they sell, rarely do they have clearance items, which only qualify as "warm" deals at best. Service and support are outstanding.
Sounddomain.com - good selection of mid to high end stuff, and their online BBS forums have a good following. price are acceptable, but nothing special.
CC/BB/GG - fricking RIP-off, even when stuff is on sale. occasionally they have warm deals (like B1G1F), but usually way overpriced, you get charged tax, and the CSR's generally have absolutely no clue what they're talking about. most of their products are consumer-grade crap, but not as bad as RS.
As most of us know, car audio works with ~100% markups - I once asked a CSR at GG where the most profitable items were, and he pointed behind him at the car stereo dept...home audio works with similar high profit margins. There's a "conspiracy" among the mfrs to maintain the high prices/markups among authorized dealers -- which means you can usually get a deep discount at the unauthorized dealers (they still make good profit without being price controlled). The price you pay is that in many cases, you lose the mfr warranty. Happy listening, and happy holidays!
Valsalva