I have had really good luck with Dillon Music, and have heard from other users who also like them very much. They carry horns, music, and recordings. Their repair shop is first rate.
Dillon Music gets my top vote, even though I live no where near New Jersey or New York City. I bought a Yamaha YEP-642S from them about three years ago, working with their Tuba specialst Matt Waters. He was a great help and I enjoyed his good humor and thorough follow through. I sold that euphonium to help my daughter out of a tight financial spot, but just recently (this weekend) bought a BE-2051 Prestige euphonium from Dillon (along with a gold plated SM3 mouthpiece).
I found to my surprise that euphoniums are hard to come by these days at most shops and Dillon usually has a healthy supply. So I'm planning to hold on to the Prestige permanently (assuming I like it and it passes my tryout period).
I am thinking of going to New York to buy an instrument. Since the Norwegian krone is strong and the dollar is weak I would have to pay one third of the cost of the same instrument an that covers for the plane ticket:-) Any other store I should check out besides Dillon? The prices seems to be the same all over.
I really need info about another store in New York or close proximity that carry Yamaha because Dillon does not have the YTR 697Z in stock until January. Yamaha doesn't have it either.
I took the trip to Dillon's Music store in October and bought a King Legend 2B+ from them. The service was outstanding and me and my local friend immediately felt at home there. Davin and the other staff at Dillon was most helpful and brought what ever instrument we demanded to satisfy our needs. We bought two trumpets, one flugel horn and one trombone so they were even able to give a serious discount. Also there was some kind of a tax to avoid if we shipped the instruments to our hotel in New York city instead of carrying them out of the door at Dillon's. I'm from Norway so I'm not familiar with US tax regulations, but I sure did appreciate them telling us.
I did get to try a couple of Prestige euphoniums, but unfortunately there was no time for a thorough test. It was nice to try though. Being a Wilson player I was overwhelmed by the serious amount of air these horns demanded. I definitely will try to test a couple of these here in Norway during next year.
I was a little disappointed that Dillon didn't carry Sterling. After reading the different reports from extensive testing by Dave and YDave among others I was really looking forward to have a go on a Virtuoso because they are not sold in Norway. I was not able to put the effort into looking up another music store in NYC though I'm sure there ought to be a couple of them. It's on the top of my list next time I go over there.
At this point, Custom Music in Ferndale, Michigan is the North American importer and exclusive retailer of the Sterling Virtuoso. Unless that changes, it's unlikely that you will be able to find a Sterling Virtuoso to try in or around NYC unless it's someone's personal horn.
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