Re: @Alan Firminger: There's truth in both camps
There is a little local hi-fi shop in Stamford that is run by a handful of blokes who know exactly what they are talking about. They will show you all sorts of entertainment stuff working together in the shop, deliver it to yer house and connect it all up - including taking a brick cutter to the wall, burying the cables, and skimming and painting the wall afterwards.
If something doesn't work, they make it work. If a customer says "it doesn't work" their first assumption is that the customer is right, not an idiot. If something stops working they are usually there within the hour, and will only charge you for new parts, not their time.
They sold the first Plasma TV I ever saw, routinely install DLNA systems, and will sell you a linux micropowered server instead of leaving a PC on all day. Their first love is hifi, not 7.1, and certainly not oxygen-free cables with arrows on the side. Go in for a DAB radio and they will try to persuade you to stick to FM unless it is clear there are stations you know you want.
They have been in business more than 30 years and I expect them to be there in 30 years time.
Curry and Dixon both moved out of the high street in recent years. There is one of the megashedds on a nearby estate, but I don't know which one as I have never been in it, and judging by the car park no-one else has either. When we had the snow that end stayed unsullied till the thaw.