Strathfield are still around. There is one on Parramatta Rd in N.S.W I know of. I remember when they seemed to disappear from Victoria and I think JB had allot to do with it. I did a search on Strathfield.com.au and searched around Bendigo, the result was to call some 13 number as there is no store locally. I know you can order online if you want something but I dont know how much postage and handling costs are. Also try Ryda.com.au aswell they have cheap stuff from time to time too. Hope that helps

Thanks 79raven.

Yeah surprised to see Strathfield are still around - when the Bendigo and Shep stores shut I also heard rumour the franchise sank. As you say maybe JB scared em off.

I will def have a look at their website, and at Ryda.. but I'd like a big store with lots of high-end demo units so I can actually test them out to see which ones are easy to use, and which ones properly support WMP/PlaysForSure/MTP syncing, std paylists and MP3's.

Unfortunately Jb is about the only option then for you in the big store range.
Yeah it just seemed that around the corner of every Strathfield a Jb opened up, and Jb use to be good but every time I have gone into a JB lately its full of young d**k who would rather talk s**t with their mates than serve customers and the prices are no longer dirt cheap.
I went into Jb Penrith about 12 months ago with big cash burning in my pocket, I asked for assistance and the young bloke who came took one look at me and went and talked to some young blokes who were just filling in time. The result was I left and spent my cash somewhere else and will never step foot int that store again as this was not the first time they had done it either.
Sometime Autobahn, Supercrap and the other car stores have decent sales too. It might even be worth going into all these stores to test players out and then checking prices for the same thing on the net.
getprice.com.au can sometimes can be a good one too for high end products, just dont forget to add postage. Good luck

Yeah, I think a lot of times it's best to do a lot of research on what you want, then go look at units in stores, and just politely ask the salesperson to go away.